The mountain

Photo by Laurel Burlew

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the importance our culture places on emotional value.  I was writing in my journal about it and decided to post what I wrote. 
So!  Emotions.  Our culture puts such an emphasis on the way we feel.  TV shows and movies are specifically created in ways that will make us feel a certain way.  We hang out with people because they make us feel good.  We get married and divorced simply because we don't feel a certain way any more.  It's all about the feelings and emotions we're experiencing at this moment...even, I think, in the Christian culture.  It seems as if everyone is wrapped up in wanting to feel like we're in a certain spiritual place with God all the time.  But it's just not so.  Emotions are so wishy-washy.  We will not have only one emotion for our entire lives; they constantly change.
And that's okay.  We were created with emotions, and they live inside of us for a reason.  But the plain and simple fact is that we will not always be on a spiritual high.  We won't always be at the top of the mountain--sometimes we'll be climbing it, sometimes we'll be in a valley down at the bottom, sometimes we'll be trekking back down from the top, and--yes--sometimes we will indeed be at the top.  It's all part of life, and it's all part of our own personal journeys.
Honestly, right now in my life I am not on the mountain top.  Sometimes I am, but at this moment I'm somewhere in the middle.  Does that mean God isn't with me?  No.  Does it mean I don't love him as much as when I am on the mountaintop?  Heck no!  I love Him just as much now as I do when I'm up there, and I am following after Him just as much.  Am I always supposed to be at the top of the mountain?  Nope, and that's totally okay.  It's not a sin.  Love isn't something that is dependent on emotions--quite the opposite.  Love is constant, despite what we may or may not feel at the moment. 
I am on my journey of life, just as everyone on earth is.  I have repented of my sins, accepted Christ into my life, and have dedicated all I am to Him.  My goal for the entirety of my life is to know Him and be known by Him.  I know with certainty that when I pass away on this earth, I will see my Father in heaven and I will forever be with Him, loving a perfect God and worshiping Him.
My emotions along the way will vary from complete joy to utter depression.  I have already tasted both, and I am learning how to navigate through whatever God allows me to go through.  The mountain is ever-present in my life, and I love it when I am at the top and enjoying all the hard work it has taken me to get there.  When I am not at that mountaintop, however, I need not be disappointed.  Life is full of seasons of every sort.  And in each and every one, He is with me.  Not only that, He goes before me!  That means whatever I've got coming at me, whether it's a rock slide or a wild animal hiding behind the bushes, or anything else, He's already ahead of it and I can get through it too. 
Following Christ isn't strictly emotional.  It is an emotional journey, to be sure, but if my faith rested on nothing but my emotions I would not have real faith.  Real faith is following God through thick and thin, no matter what I feel in the moment.
So, what do you think?  Does our culture put too much emphasis on how we feel?  Do we spend too much time wrapped up in our emotions?  Why or why not?