I should be writing a critical review of Heaven Below, but I feel inclined otherwise.
Time is often the most enslaving concept to our minds. We are fascinated with maximizing our time — whether that be in school, in work, or socially. We all want the most of our time. I feel that it is often too easy to negate our relationship with God in our attempts to manage our time. We might put school work first, then social life, then work… and then we just want to sleep, or even do nothing. For myself, I especially find that the last thing I want to do is to spend time in prayer, in scripture, or just in a state of worship.
This is one of those great paradoxes of life. What I want most truly is God, yet my behaviors typically fail to reflect this. When I do finally yield to God, it is typically for a very small amount of time, but God works fast. He restores, replenishes, and refreshes. This is common-sense to most Christians. I think we are all stigmatized by this to some extent.
What’s fascinating to me is my nature to grow increasingly dissatisfied in the absence of God; and this is only of my own fault. It seems to me that this back-and-forth between our world and the heavens grows us bipolar. I am in a terrible mood when I go for a moderate amount of time away from God, and in the best of moods when I let Him find me. I find it ridiculous how I have to continually remind myself of this phenomenon. If you don’t quite understand what I’m describing, here’s something to help out.
Most weeks I’ll spend time in prayer during parts of the day. This week, I haven’t done that once — it has been studying, napping, relaxing, sleeping. Last night I fell asleep in the worst of moods, for no particular reason. I woke up to a beautiful day outside, and the mood was momentarily displaced, only to find me again in my afternoon class. It persisted, growing fiercer through my evening class. I got back to my dorm in a terribly frustrated and confused state. When I got to my room, I put on that song “He Loves Us,” by John Mark McMillan. Almost immediately after giving God his due praise did I shake off that bad attitude. God has a mysterious way of working through us. I can’t quite explain it fully. However, I do know that when I humble myself, and submit to Him, He takes control and puts everything in its right place.
If you’re going through a bad mood, or just a flux of undesirable circumstances, I hope to remind you of the comforting power of God’s grace, mercy, and love.
