Waking Up To Perfection

I would love to wake up every morning to perfection. I would love to make the perfect cup of coffee every time, have the perfect hairstyle, not notice a stain on my clothes just as I was about to walk out of the door, encounter absolutely no traffic on my five-minute drive to work, meet twenty six eager learners who have absolutely no time to talk to their friends during work time. Oh, and while I’m dreaming, Please Lord, I would love to meet the perfect guy, have all of my bills paid forever, a new wardrobe, a new car….

"We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle." ~ Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers puts it perfectly in the above quote. We would all love to have our lives run smoothly, exactly the way we want it to at all times. If we had our way we would never choose valleys we would always choose the mountain top. However we cannot stay on the mountains always. We will experience valleys in our lives.

There are days in my classroom when I’m on a mountain top. The students seem to grasp everything I teach right away. They are eager to learn, we’re moving faster than I expect and I feel like I’m the greatest teacher ever. (Can you sense the valley coming?) Unfortunately there are also days when I feel as if I’m speaking a foreign language. Hand after hand go up and I hear, “Miss McIntosh, I don’t get (understand) that.” On those days it appears that my students don’t understand the simplest concept and I’m wondering, “Is something wrong with me?” More than half of my students cannot have a problem so I must be the problem…

"We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration…

I’ve learned on the days when I’m feeling like the worst teacher ever to reflect back to the days when it seems like everything went right for inspiration. Sometimes I take my students books and look back at work that they did well in to remind me that they can do well. It also forces me to come up with new strategies for teaching some of the concepts. So in actuality my valleys brings something out of me that I may not have tapped into had I stayed on the mountain top.

Instead of a scripture I’ll share this song that I love to remind you dear reader and myself the the God of the mountain is still God in the valley. I was reminded of it the moment I saw the quote that Laurel choose.

God On The Mountain

Life is easy when you're up on the mountain
And you've got peace of mind like you've never known.
But then things change and you're down in the valley.
Don't lose faith for you're never alone.
For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.
When things go wrong, He'll make it right.
And the God of the good times
is still God in the bad times.
The God of the day is still God in the night.

You talk of faith when you're up on the mountain.
Oh but the talk comes easy when life's at its best.
But it's down in the valley of trials and temptation
That's when faith is really put to the test.
For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.
When things go wrong, He'll make it right.
And the God of the good times
is still God in the bad times.
The God of the day is still God in the night.

For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley.
When things go wrong, He'll make it right.
And the God of the good times
is still God in the bad times.
The God of the day is still God in the night.
The God of the day is still God in the night.
Song by Lynda Randle

For more on this week's quote visit Laurel @ Laurel Wreath.