On the Mountain

October. It has always been my favorite time of the year! I love the cool, crisp air and lack of humidity. I love it when the leaves change colors, and I love when I can wear a sweatsuit and not sweat! It reminds me of football games where you need to bring a blanket to stay warm and campfires and roasting marshmallows. I fell in love with my husband in October so I always think about love and I always want to be in the mountains this time of year.

My husband and I were married in the mountains and spent our honeymoon in a log cabin (the exact one in the picture) there. It was awesome! We rode the lift to the very tip top of that Smokey Mountain and were in awe of the beauty that surrounded us. We were more in love than we had ever been (at that point). We didn't think about anything else but each other. We didn't worry about jobs, bills, kids, mortgages, little league ball, mortgages, college tuition, or retirement. We were crazy in love and thought that this is the way we would feel forever! I remember saying, "We should have married months ago, this is great!".

And then we had to go home, and the honeymoon was over. It didn't take many times for him to leave his dirty socks on the floor, for me to realize that the mountain top experience had come to an end. It wasn't long till we were faced with challenges that were hard to face. Tough times that forced us to remember why we were together in the first place. We didn't realize it at the time, but it was during those tough times that our love was growing stronger.

Our walk with Christ is so much like this. We walk away from our salvation experience on the mountain top. Then, without warning, we are faced with challenges and tough situations that are difficult to walk through. Then, before you know it, we attend a retreat or have an awesome quiet time and we are back on the mountain top. We love our mountain top experiences, but they don't last. It is when we are in the valley that we grow. Oswald Chamber says "The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle."

I will never forget my wedding and honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains. I will never forget how in love we were on that day. I have to admit however, as awesome as it was, my love for Jeff is stronger today than it has ever been. Also, my relationship with Christ is stronger than it has ever been. Both grew when we walked through the valley together.