It’s official – I’m over the hill (well actually if only I had been – bear with me it will all become clear). For the first time in over 20 years of hill climbing I gave up – yes I was the panting struggler holding up the rest. Now I could spend some going through a list a mitigating circumstances: the foul wet weather, my rubbish jacket so I was soaked to the skin before I was half way up the first hill, the bad decision to have muesli along with my full cooked breakfast, that I gave up only after climbing two Munro’s (which many might consider a respectable tally in itself) – but the plain truth was the other four climbers were fit for more (5 more in fact) while my respiratory system was operating about as impressively as a Scottish election. As I trudged my way back down the mountain I reflected that the day would not be a total failure if I could at least get one sermon illustration out of it – so here goes….
Heavy on my mind was that I had done the same climb in 1996 – what had happened? On that occasion we had done in it in the snow even having to use rope at one point to get over a nasty overhang of ice. On Saturday the overhang that caused the problem was sitting over my belt. 11 years of little decisions – the bedtime snacks, the mid-morning chocolate bars, the bus to save the 15 minute walk. None of which on their own were ‘terrible’ or ‘reckless’ but over the months and years add up – and then one day you find yourself lying in a gale between two rocks shouting things like, “I’m fine, you go ahead, I’ll follow on in a bit’. Oh the humiliation!
I suppose for most of us that’s the way our spiritual life goes – negatively or positively. We are not in general the result of some massive stand-alone decision we took to be really good or really bad spiritually. We are each the culmination of years of little decisions. Little decisions that in themselves weren’t ‘terrible’ or ‘reckless’ – just a decision one day not to pray - but then repeated the next day, the decision to skip reading our Bible because we were rushed, to miss the evening service, to not get involved in that activity. Each one defensible at the time – never taken with the intention of wanting to be spiritually flabby – but they mount up, they have a collective effect.
Conversely, and this is the good news, you don’t become a great man or woman of God overnight – you don’t blitz the Quiet Time for a few weeks and end up sorted (that’s just exhausting, unsustainable and leads to despondency). Rather it’s the little decisions, to spent a few minutes in prayer today and then tomorrow, to read a passage of the Bible rather than rushing straight to the next thing, to get to the Prayer Meeting etc etc. All very unspectacular at the time – but they mount up and in 5/10 years you’ll end up spiritually fit enough to tackle ‘spiritual mountains’.
2 comments:
Great blog Andy, a great encouragement to continue to do the small things and make the small efforts that bring rich gains in the long term, thanks!
Well observed and beautifully put Andy. You have pointed to the problem and also thrown out a rescue line. That is something we do far too little of. I don't think I have ever heard Chappo speak without him at some point encouraging people (even full-time gospel workers) back to their Bible reading and prayer. His assumption is that some in the gathering have given up. It is a safe assumption to make. We need that constant encouragement to keep going. Thanks for this mate.
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