True confession time . . . Some devotional thoughts about biscuits & gravy

As I confessed in my Mental health MON 8/31 blog entry, I took Sammy for his early morning walk, then succumbed to temptation & made a quick drive over to Casey's to pick up an order of their biscuits & gravy.

I really like biscuits & gravy. I really like THEIR biscuits & gravy, perhaps 2nd only to those served by Hy-Vee. Maybe even TIED for #1! The downside? Biscuits & gravy are not user-friendly for one such as I, who has Diabetes Type 2--high blood sugar. They are loaded w/carbs & will drive up my blood-glucose level both in the short-term &, if I am in a slump, in the long-term.

And, as I shared last Monday, I have been in a slump for some time.

Here's something I've noticed about these biscuits & gravy. They are served from the warmer in Casey's, but they come in a plastic container. It is not a thermal container, & I do not fault them for this. Caveat emptor, right? That means, however, that once I get them home, which is within 5 minutes, I need to immediately start attacking them, because they get cold fairly quickly. And I've learned over time that biscuits & gravy lose their appeal as they lose their warmth & get colder.

I've also learned before that they are one of those food items whose taste just doesn't stand up to my criteria when I warm them up in the microwave. This holds true whether its Casey's or Hy-Vee's. I bought take-out biscuits & gravy from the deli refrigerated section @ Hy-Vee once, warmed them up in the microwave when I got home, & they just weren't the same. *
* This doesn't mean you should hesitate to try them. It could just be a matter of individual taste. I do not claim to be a connisieur, connaseur, connesieur (I give up). But I digress.

As I ate my entree fairly rapidly during my "quiet time," on Monday morning, so as to take advantage of the full flavor before they got too cold **, I gained what I thought was a true spiritual insight. I have had my share of "mountain-top experiences," including a hike/climb to the peak of an actual mountain. Other spiritual mountain-top experiences have included worship @ District Conventions, District Church Worker Conferences, Lutheran Secondary Administrator Conferences, a National LCMS Great Commission Convocation in St. Louis quite a few years ago, an Opening Worship @ the National LCMS Convention in Houston several years ago. It's been a little slower to evolve ***, but my Sunday morning worship w/my spouse & fellow brothers & sisters in Christ has become for me a weekly mountain-top experience. [SEE comments following Steven Curtis Chapman's song below.]
** Which also, I believe, is a property of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, but once again I digress. 
*** I've mentioned before that I really have a distaste for that word, but I use it anyway.

Back to the biscuits & gravy in the plastic container. It doesn't take long before the entree's warmth dissipates. When that happens, it loses its taste, loses its appeal. And when I eat it quickly in order to gain the full advantage, the positive experience is over that much more quickly.

And so it goes with our spiritual mountain-top experiences, too, right? I have come to look forward so much to my weekend church worship with Lois & my brothers & sisters, where "peaceful waters flow . . . troubles seem so far they almost disappear . . . My faith is strengthened by all that I see . . . You make it easy for me to believe . . . "

Then, all to quickly, it's back down to the valley. When I hiked to the top of West Spanish Peak in the San Isabel National Forest, west of Trinidad, CO, many, many years ago, I stood on the top for awhile, savoring the majestic views, feeling such a sense of accomplishment--I was standing at over 13,000' in elevation! All too quickly it was time to descend, & by the time I got back to our campsite, I was suffering an excruciating headache & nausea, no doubt from altitude sickness brought on from too quick an ascent, followed by too quick a descent.

Journeys from spiritual high points to the valleys far below, happen all too frequently for us, for me at least. We are, after all, poor sinful beings, living in a sinful world, easily distracted by the devil, the world, & our own sinful flesh. And so my spiritual insight on MON 8/31, which came to me because of a side trip to get biscuits & gravy in a plastic container, followed by my "quiet time," reinforced by what I think was godly inspiration * from Steven Curtis Chapman & the writer of LW Hymn #277, "One Thing's Needful," & including a time of relaxation & refreshment on my deck, enjoying a cool breeze & enjoying my dog's ongoing war w/the squirrel from the nether-world [figuratively speaking, I hope], combined to provide me with a a truly meaningful, albeit much longer than I anticipated, quiet time, combined w/writing on my blog.
* Yet falling well short of the LCMS doctrinal teachings re:  inspiration of Scripture.

Steven Curtis Chapman

I'm not sure that Steven CC is a Lutheran. Please do not hold this against me [or him]. I still find many of the songs from his Heaven in the Real World CD inspiring to me. Here's one entitled "The Mountain."

I want to build a house up on this mountain/Way up high where the peaceful waters flow
To quench my thirsty soul up on the mountain
I can see for miles up on this mountain/Troubles seem so small they almost disappear
Lord, I love it here up on the mountain.
My faith is strengthened by all that I see/You make it easy for me to believe
Up on the mountain/Oh, up on the mountain.

I would love to live up on this mountain/And keep the pain of living life so far away
But I know I can't stay up on the mountain.
I said I'd go, Lord, wherever You lead. For where You are is where I most want to be
And I can tell we're headed for the valley.
My faith is strengthened by all that I've seen
So Lord help me remember what You've shown me/Up on the mountain.

You bring me up here on the mountain/For me to rest & learn & grow
I see the truth up on the mountain/And I carry it to the world far below
So as I go down to the valley/Knowing that You will go with me
This is my prayer, Lord/Help me to remember what You've shown me
Up on the mountain/Up on the mountain.

I cherish these times up on the mountain/But I can leave this place because I know
Someday You'll take me home to live forever/Up on the mountain.

MY COMMENTS:  I've come to find that my worship experiences at church have become at least "mini" mountain-top experiences for me. I usually eagerly anticipate them as times when I "quench my thirsty soul," when "I can see for miles" & "troubles seem so small they almost disappear." Yes, I truly love it on that mountain. And "I would love to live up on this mountain and keep the pain of living life so far away."
        Peter experienced the same spiritual high, didn't he, on the Mt. of Transfiguration? He was so caught up in the glory that he offered to build a dwelling so that he, James, John, Jesus, & presumably Moses & Elijah. [I've always wondered how he recognized them; there must have been personal introductions, right?] could dwell forever! 
        Yet Christ doesn't mean for us to live up on the mountain. He brings us to the mountain where we can "rest & learn & grow," but we remember that while our "faith is strengthened by all that [we] see," [we] know [we] can't stay on the mountain," & "as [we] go down to the valley," we know that [He] will go with [us].
        Ultimately, "I cherish these times up on the mountain," but God calls His disciples to leave the mountain, just as He led His disciples back down the mountain, & enter the valley, for it's in the valley where we do our ministry. His next mountain was the Mount of Calvary. Someday, we, too, will live forever with Christ "up on the mountain" of the true Calvary in heaven.
      And that's my sermon for today. *
* Actually, it's probably my 2nd sermon, & I won't take it personally if you tune out any time now.

For those of you more LCMS hymnodically * inclined

I think I've posited before that it's uncanny how often the contents of a daily devotion or other "quiet time" material speaks directly to a current issue or circumstance affecting myself and/or my family. This also happened to me on MON 8/31. As I've shared before, my daily quiet time includes time in scripture & meditative reading, worship, & prayer. 

• My current devotional readings for some time now have been on-line resources including Lutheran Hour Ministries, most frequently written by Rev. Ken Knaus, speaker emeritus; Slice of Infinity (published by RZIM), written sometimes by Ravi Zacharias but also a variety of RZIM writers & speakers; & Lutheran Education Association devotions, almost always written by Ed Grube. 
• My "hard-copy" devotional has been A Year in the Old Testament," written by Jeffrey Pulse, published by CPH **, & references to scripture from the Psalms, one or more Old Testament books, & one or more New Testament books, all tied together by a common theme, & linked to the Church Year. 
• Most recently these Jeffrey Pulse devotionals have focused on readings from Ecclesiastes & the Gospel of John. **
• Finally, I use some hymns, focusing on a theme from LW (currently hymns of commitment), along with selections from a few other hymns & spiritual songs not included in LW, ending with my prayer list for the day. ***

In my Mental Health MON 8/31 blog entry, I mentioned my current "slump," depressive cycle, pity party, or whatever. I noted that one of the signs for me that I've slipped into one of these cycles is a time of apathy re:  my "quiet time." I just find it harder to be motivated to spend time set aside exclusively for the Lord, which is EXACTLY what I MOST need to be doing. So my "quiet time"  becomes forced, a chore, if you will. And yet, the Lord speaks to me in uncanny ways, & so He did on MON 8/31, through the words of Hymn #277 (LW), "One Thing's Needful," Stanzas 1 & 3):

(St. 1) One thing's needful; Lord this treasure/Teach me highly to regard;
All else, though it first give pleasure,/ Is a yoke that presses hard.
Beneath it the heart is still pressing & striving,
No true, lasting happiness truly deriving.
The gain of this one thing all loss can requite,
Can teach me in all things to find true delight.

(St. 3) How were Mary's thoughts devoted/Her eternal joy to find
As intent each word she noted/At her Savior's feet reclined!
How kindled her heart, how devout was its feeling
While hearing the wisdom that Christ was revealing!
For Jesus all earthly concerns she forgot
In love & devotion to what Jesus taught.

* If this is a new word that I just invented, I want credit for it.
** It's been a long, long journey. I started on July 1, & it looks like I'll finish up around the end September. I highly, highly recommend this resource, although, if I had it to do all over again, I'd start with Advent, since his book is themed around the Church Year.
*** I hope this doesn't come off as being self-righteous. I just want to share my "quiet time" experience with you. For me, this has been perhaps the most significant feature of my "sabbatical."