Plateaus

Plateaus get a bad rap. No athlete wants to hear the death blow whispers - “He’s plateaued.” It’s a kin to saying “washed up” or “failure.” I prefer to see plateaus as high lands filled with lush green fields, surrounded by dense forests with a stunning view of the valley below. It’s a place to be explored and refreshed before embarking on next part of the climb.

At a backward glance I can see that my personal growth has been one of plateaus. Life places where God has been very intentional to plunk a spiritual nugget in my heart, then give a few years and freedom to discover, to grow and to be refreshed before the ascent to the next plateau.

Without going out on a limb to say this is a norm, I do wonder if many of us haven’t had a similar experience. More than likely the nugget wasn’t brand new, but became so much more real that we were left wondering how we could have been blind to it for so long.

For me one of those plateaus was the ministry of the indwelling Spirit, and another was my true identity as a reconciled son of God. For others it might be an awareness of the depths of personal sin or the riches of the grace of God or the daily ministry of the Trinity. The specific truth theme isn’t so much the issue as is the refreshing aliveness God brings to it in our heart.

A few years ago a friend wrote a Christmas letter summing up his particular plateau. He said, “…while listening to that tape something dawned on me that 14 years of Christian School, 4 years of Bible College and a lifetime of Christian experience had never occurred to me. I realized that I was living my life for Christ instead of letting Him live His life through me. It was as if someone had opened a drapery and let the sunlight flood into a darkened room. Everything in the room was in order, but I had been stumbling in the dark. And now the orderliness of the room made sense for the first time because I can see its purpose more clearly.” He goes on to say, "This revelation is still so new to me that I haven't quite got a handle on it, and I suspect that I may never handle it because it is too wonderful for human comprehension."

Another friend paints this word picture of his, “Most of my life I have known the words of the Christian life, I just now feel as though I’m hearing the music.”

So, maybe we should give this whole plateau idea a second thought and a second chance. Expecting that for a life time God is going to surprise us with a twist on what we thought we already knew and letting us run wild on His plateaus.