Many years ago, I read with great fascination the John Krakauer book Into Thin Air. Written in 1999, it detailed the disastrous story of a group hoping to summit Mount Everest. There is a lot you can draw from the book and the experience it chronicles, but one thing caught my attention right at the first. The teams wanting to reach the top of the world’s tallest mountain did not simply ascend to the peak. They would climb to a location, a plateau, and stop. They were acclimating to the elevation and regaining their strength from the previous climb. Sometimes these climbers would be there for days or weeks. And then they would press on to the next elevation and the next plateau. That time spent on the valley or plateau was not wasted time. It was critical if they were going to achieve their goal and survive.

Leadership expert Fred Smith once talked about the value of the plateau:

Sound development requires a program providing plateaus where our information is turned into knowledge through experience, then heading to another climb.

Smith says the wise person uses those valleys to assimilate all they have gained at that point to prepare themselves for the next climb. He said, “Those who try to go up too fast run out of steam or poorly assimilate their experiences.”

In Experiencing God Day by Day, Henry Blackaby talks about the seasons of life. He draws from the well-known verse Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” Blackaby reminds us of this important principle, and how critical it is in our personal and spiritual growth.

Just as God planned seasons in nature, He planned seasons in life as well.

In God’s perfect design for our lives, He has planned for times of fruitfulness and activity. He will also build in times of quiet and rest.

And Fred Smith summed it up this way:

Each of us must respect the principle that the food we grow in the valley (on the plateau) we eat on the mountain top (the climb).

If you find yourself in a valley or on a plateau, don’t despair. Use the time to acclimate to this new level in life and ministry. Use it to assimilate all you have learned to this point. And take time to invest in the things that will provide “food” for the next climb to the next plateau for the Lord’s purpose and glory.

God’s best…