I was talking with a friend yesterday who owns a mowing business. He said, “It was nice not having to mow much last week with all the rain, but boy this week is going to be crazy.” This comes after a spring of drought throughout Kentucky. We quickly go from a season of intense dryness, to flood-level rains, to rapid growth of everything green. Owning a business that is dependent on the weather demands flexibility, requires that one be attuned to the changing conditions in the atmosphere. One cannot just assume each day will be like the last, in fact, one should likely assume every day will be different.
There’s something in this mindset that would help us in our spiritual lives. Why is it we often assume our attitudes, our moods, our emotions, our love for God and others will always be the same or better tomorrow than they were yesterday? In reality our lives are full of ups and downs, often unpredictable, rarely rational, and usually governed by inconsequential moments, such as when a person you’ve never met and will never see again slightly slows down in front of you in traffic and it ruins your day.
Eugene Peterson points out that this is probably one of the reasons the book of Ecclesiastes was appointed to be read aloud during the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was one of the most joy-focused festivals, celebrating God’s goodness and bounty in the life of the nation. He says it this way: “The most negative of the scrolls was required reading at the most positive of the festivals.” This joining together of two seemingly opposites reminds us that the Christian life is often one of ups and downs and changing seasons. This doesn’t shock God and it should not surprise us either.
This is why we walk by faith. We walk by faith because we know that even on the days when we yelled at an employee at the bookstore (been there) or snapped back at the school secretary (done that) or participated in one’s own version of road rage (no comment), we also remember that just yesterday we were on a spiritual high, deeply connected to God, sure that we would never sin again. So today we do the same thing Jesus said to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” Remember, Repent, Repeat. This is how we continue to fight for faithfulness. We want to follow faithful ways in the midst of evil days and we do that by remembering we are a child of God, repenting of our sin, and returning to the love we had at first. We walk by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit!