Exercise Makes You Tough (Hills, Mts., Plains and Valleys)

Now, let's see... Where were we on yesterday? Oh yeah. I remember. I had had you to close your eyes and imagine a scene of the landforms that we have named in our title, hadn't I? Well, remember  to put the two or three people back in them as we revisit those landform scenes again now. I believe that I was just about to discuss each of the forms individually.

Okay, so back where we left off on yesterday:
     Mountain - a natural elevation of the earth's surface greater than 2,000ft.
     Hill - same as a mountain only less than 2,000ft.
     Valley -an elongated depression between uplands, hills or mts. and usu.  foll. the course of a stream.
     Plain - can occur at any altitude. Can be forested, grass covered, or arid (dry with little or no rain which means that it is too dry or barren to support vegetation.) For our purposes today, we will be using the arid plain.  An arid plain can be a desert.

Now back to  those people that you placed in your scenarios, what are they doing? What are they wearing? The one(s) climbing the mountains, do they have any gear with them. And the one hiking across the hills, does he have a stick or a staff in his hand? Do either of them look winded? (Tired)  Is there any dust blowing across the plain? Now let's say that our people that we have placed in our scenarios have to walk five miles one way to town weekly for supplies. That means that they would get plenty of exercise, right? I imagine that the trek was hard at first, but now hardly seems a bother at all. Packing the supplies back home is not even much of a bother anymore. The continuous walking has strengthened their muscles.

Now what does this have to do with you is what you might be thinking. Your continuous battles with happenstance make you stronger. You don't get it? Well, if you were the people in those scenarios that you envisioned, your muscles would be strong just like theirs.  The more you do a thing, the better you become at it and the easier it becomes.  

Exercise builds muscles; any fitness trainer will tell you that. So when you have mountains to scale, valleys too deep, hills to climb and arid plains to cross in your spiritual life, don't complain. Exercise the spiritual privilege of prayer.  I asked you how you began your day. Do you begin it with prayer?  The more that you pray to HIM, the better you become at it. The more you pray, the stronger your prayer life and the stronger your faith becomes. The stronger your faith, the more people you can influence for GOD. And what makes us pray more than anything? You guessed it! Adversity!  So let the mountains, hills, valleys and/or plains of life take their best shot. All it will make you do is draw closer to your GOD, YOUR FATHER AND YOUR FRIEND! Did you know that HE has an arsenal of weapons to go before you and pave your way? (Jeremiah 50:25)

Until we meet...