Peaks and Troughs

I want to reiterate that almost none of what I say this way is new. Most of the way I think and what I say comes from CS Lewis, and usually from his book The Screwtape Letters. In it, there's an entire chapter dedicated to showing how human progress, appetites, spiritual fervor, and moods all go up and down in what Screwtape refers to as the "Law of Undulation."

That being said, I want to reiterate some of Mr. Lewis' points and add some application in case it helps anybody someday.

Many Christians think that Peak periods, times when things are going really well in life, are blessings from God and Trough periods, when things are going really poorly, are curses or punishments from God. This is nothing new. Luke 13:1-5 has a short story about a tower in the neighborhood Siloam that fell on people. Jesus asks whether that tower falling on them meant that they were worse people than everyone else. Then he answers his own question (as usual): "By no means." And you can point to other places in the Bible, like Job or John 9:1-3, where hardship is not a punishment for sin. It's just part of living in this free, sandbox world God has created and allowed.

So obviously, life going poorly isn't always or even often a punishment. Most of us know this in our heads, even if it's hard to believe sometimes.

But here's something most people don't think about. Troughs can be a blessing, and Peaks might not be.

Think about what happens in your life when things are going really well. You get comfortable. You start to think "Yeah, this is how things are normally." And even worse: "I did this. This is my work. My hand. I've worked hard to get here. I deserve it. And now I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy it." I mean, that's not just theologically untrue, it's also just setting yourself up for a rude awakening. And, hey, maybe things going well really is normal for you, but regardless, it won't last forever.
Peak periods allow the illusion of control to come flooding back in. It's easy to think that we deserve what we get when things are going well. After all, you have worked hard. I'm not denying it. I know you have. The problem is that working hard only leads to success when a bunch of other factors are also going in your favor. Hard work is no guarantee for success or happiness. Many of the hardest workers I know are also some of the unhappiest people I've met.
It's too easy for hard work to trap us in this thinking of "I deserve this." So every good thing that you get becomes "what I deserve." And every bad thing that happens is an outrageous, unfair indigence. How many leaders or even managers have you heard of that have justified terrible things they've done because "I work so hard the rest of the time."
When God allows things to go too well for us, we start to think it's all about us. That's dangerous and usually leads to some very sad results.

So in the same way, Troughs can be a blessing. When we're sad- when we're upset, alone, scared, and unhappy- it's a lot easier to ask for help. And when we ask God for help, it's like exercise. The more you have to deal with bad times in your life, the easier it will become. It doesn't hurt any less, but it doesn't have to. You will survive. And not because you deserve it or because you've earned it, but because you have had to practice relying on God.

I know this probably isn't going to make you feel better, because it wouldn't have made me feel better. But trust me. If you let him, God can take that pain and foster something incredible inside it. And you will become something... amazing. Something invincible. In the words of Charles Xavier, "If you allow yourself to feel it- embrace it- it will make you more powerful than you ever imagined."

So yeah, that's it.