Undulation

"Our nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation" - CS Lewis

Naturally, as spiritual beings, we belong to an eternal world, but we are sadly trapped by the limit of time. In an eternal world without the law of time, all would be kept at a constant - as is God. However, our natural tendency of undulations - series of lows and highs, troughs and peaks - are inevitable, as to be in time means change. When time takes its course, everything is always changing: Our bodies, desires, and thoughts are constantly in some sort of a transition. We will never be able to avoid our undulating nature as long as we are stuck in time.

I believe it may be due to the lack of understanding our own nature, that we become disappointed when we shift from peak to trough times. Why do we assume that the high-octane condition will last forever? And once we transition out of the peak, why do we assume our "dry" stage is a perpetual state of our being? I believe it is Satan's work - making us delusional at all points during our natural undulations. We cannot expect ourselves to possess perfect, consistent behaviors/emotions as inhabitants of time. However, we can take this natural phenomenon and make it as God desires. We often forget that God relies on the troughs even more than the peaks - as some of the greatest people in the bible have all gone through their share of this natural period, and have built their character to last a life time. I think it's pretty obvious why God relies on this period the most: To test our character. If we can can all be nice/good when things are smooth, what can this period possibly show about the depth of our character? Isn't it exponentially more important to see how a person handles a problem during the rocky times - when our back is against the wall?

This, when emotional highs are gone, is also the perfect time for Satan to attack - when we are pressured to choose a side without emotions attached, but from pure discipline. He's been lurking around us, whispering lies, but during the time of dullness, He attacks attack us with full force. He screams in to our minds to turn our eyes on the desires of the flesh - usually using sensual temptations, as this works powerfully during our lows. It is during the time of troughs that we become more perverted and make the natural conditions, least natural. In "Screwtape Letters", Lewis states that Satan uses "an ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure" as the perfect formula to amuse our sinful appetite. I know he writes this beautifully (I have a small man crush), but this picture is far from beautiful. When we get become consumed with sin, especially during our troughs, we become more and more blind to what is really happening around us. When we indulge in the desires of our flesh, we become addicted and this drug becomes less and less enjoyable - until it is too late. We need to control our minds and reject the lies/insecurities that Satan bring. And when we fall during our walk (as everyone is capable of doing) we need to get back up quickly before we become addicted to the worldly drugs and become dependent on its diminishing pleasure.