And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Mark 9:5

John Denver sang a song called “Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Stone”. That pretty much sums up life, right? There are those days when you at the end you are thinking: “ I should’ve just stayed in bed”! We all know there are gonna be good days and there are gonna be some bad ones. The problem is that when the good ones come, we want to hold onto them and even worship them (instead of the Giver of them). Then the bad days come and we curse God and accuse Him of abandonment and abuse.

During the Transfiguration, Peter wanted to remain on the mountaintop, offering to build booths of worship so that they could stay in that elated and ecstatic state for a longer period. However, Jesus didn’t allow it. Instead shortly after the experience, they we’re headed back down the mountain into ordinary, regular life. Not long after they departed they were met with trouble.

Isn’t this the way it works? We have a great day…a day when God seems so close and then the next it’s like God doesn’t exist at all. We begin to equate good days with God’s love and nearness and the bad days with God being aloof at best and cruel or imaginary at worst. That’s the problem with feelings and experiences. They are transitory. They happen and then dissipate. But they are REAL. God allows such things in our lives that we may have something to hold onto: a marker, a moment, a memory, if you will, because not every day is a diamond day. Oswald Chambers said:

Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there.

As leaders, it’s important to remember that there will be many more “ordinary” days than days of elation and celebration. We have to learn to celebrate the ordinary and mundane, focusing attention on God and not our “times”. God can be found in each season of life as there is a time for everything under the sun, according to Solomon. The challenge as the leader is to help people remember the mountaintops are given that we might not lose hope but to not try to “re-create” the mountaintop experience. We cannot orchestrate spirituality nor can we prescribe what kind of day we will have. But we can worship regardless of being on the mountain or in the valley.

It’s essential for us as leaders to not make emotional decisions based on the experience we are currently having. We must remember that as feelings and days change, certain decisions once made, cannot be changed. Walk into each day, each evening, each mountain, each valley with Christ. As the Father said then, He says now: “Listen to Him” (Mark 9:2). Some days are diamonds and some are stone but our God is The Rock that outshines everything and He never changes.

Final thought: Don’t try to stay where you are; but learn everything you can while you are there. It’s meant for your good and will help you in the next season.