Christmas has quickly fallen into the past. All the cooking, cleaning, wrapping, hosting and more cleaning is behind us. When the last guest leaves, it sometimes feels anticlimactic, doesn’t it? I wonder if it felt that way to the shepherds after they’d climbed back up the hill to their sheep. I wonder if anything would feel that wonderful and amazing again.
People talk about peak experiences. Those amazing, hill top
moments when the rest of the world stands still. We can begin to believe life
will never be the same again. Then we return to life, and discover how quickly
the peak disappears from sight. It can be a tremendous let down.
How do we live in that space? It isn’t the highs and lows
that can get to us, it’s the highs and middles, the norms. We’ve just
experienced a powerful moment and then we have to go back to “real” life.
Christmas can be like that, if we’ve had a good, less family dysfunctional one.
We have this great day, meeting the expectation of all the preparation, and
then we wake up the next day with just the leftovers and a bag of shredded
paper. No wonder some of us keep our decorations up through January (you
don’t?)
As a Christian I have had moments where it felt like
touching the face of God. Camp experiences can bring some of that. And watching
others experience such a high can also bring it on vicariously. We leave the
experience believing we will never feel distant from God again, and then we do.
Highs are pretty much unsustainable.
Don’t get me wrong, we need these highs. We need these
moments of inexpressible joy and contentment if for no other reason than to
know such moments are possible. But the laundry still needs doing, job
responsibilities still need filling and life goes on down at the bottom of the
hill. All those things would be neglected if we stayed on top.
Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain where they
had such an experience. (Matthew 17) While standing there they saw Jesus in all
his Deity, being embraced by Elijah and Moses. Both those men had long been
dead to this world, but not in Heaven, and here they stood in their own
glorified bodies to minister to Jesus. I always think of how the three
disciples felt in the aftermath, but what of the very human Jesus? For just a
moment He was in all His glory, and then the moment ended and He was back
confined in his human body. Peter suggested they build shelters – whether for
the guests or for themselves, we don’t know. But it hints at a desire to stay
there on that mountain witnessing such an amazing greatness. But they had to
come off the mountain. Jesus had to come down to face death on the cross. That
makes my return to “normal life” pale in comparison.
We are told that Moses, after meeting with God “face to
face” on Mt. Sinai was left with a face that shone. Everyone could see the
result of being physically that close to the Creator of the Universe. And the
story goes on to say that the “glory faded” eventually, and Moses covered his
face so people couldn’t immediately see he’d gone back to normal. Poor Moses, he’d
gone from a mountain top experience to beat them all, and had to return to his
unruly and ungrateful Israeli family. (Exodus 34:29-35)
It’s fitting that what follows Christmas is the beginning of
a New Year. I’m not one for resolutions: I’m not much better at keeping them
than anyone else. But I do like the idea of turning a new leaf, starting out
with a fresh slate of days. Part of coming down off the high is learning to
live our best lives here in the middle of reality. Whether stepping from a
spiritual high, or from some wonderful celebration like Christmas (which can
also be a spiritual high), seeking to keep God’s light alive and shining is a
great goal. Spending time with God each day can keep that light glowing and
carry us through the lows as well as the highs of a new year. As much as we’d
like to live in a state of perpetual high, this world just doesn’t afford it.
Paul, speaking of Moses’ fading glory, says ours needn’t fade. “We are not like
Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing
the end of what was passing away…Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces
contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (II Corinthians 3:13-18)
Paul goes on to say that this transformation occurs in the
real world, where we “hold this treasure in jars of clay” (II Corinthians 4:7).
Our weakness is to remind us that the power comes from God, not us. “Therefore,
do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving
for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what
is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:16-18)
Let’s walk into the New Year open to the Spirit’s leading,
so we can continue in our spiritual growth and transformation. Let the joy and
beauty of our spiritual highs be a taste of more to come, and fix our eyes on
Jesus rather than on the things that would bring us down. Life is lived in
breakable, clay jars. Crummy stuff happens in the real world, and we long for a
mountain top high. Notice Paul talked about outward and inward. Outwardly life
can be unkind. But, with the right focus we can live a mountain top life
without the climb. We can experience the transforming life promised. And those
internal changes will impact our world. In this New Year, seek to have God fill
you with His light and transformation.
Happy New Year.
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