Fridays with Phil

Have you ever thought about your peak performance?  When have you been, are you, or will you be at your peak?

The idea of a peak suggests that there is a tipping point towards your best and that either side of that point is less than the ultimate state of the peak.

Well, five years ago, I was told, I had reached my “peak.”  I was told, it would only get worse for me.  That each day I would find my body weaker as motor neurones die out and eventually there would be none left, and I would have no ability to move at all.

In some ways, the doctors were right, I have become weaker.  My body is a physical reminder that my “peak” is behind me, as each day I live I am left with less than the day before, closer to that final day.

I have lived each day aware and perhaps more “up close” to the inevitable decline towards death that surrounds me, in my own life and also living with the death of friends with this disease.

That’s physically speaking, but my experience in every other way, suggests otherwise.

Maybe you live aware of your own peak?  Whether it’s performance-based, health, relationship-wise, or even professionally?  Feeling like you’ve reached it and it’s only downhill from here. Or maybe, it’s a place you strive for but never quite attain?

Let this be an encouragement for you today, your peak need not be a point!  What do I mean by that?

While my body has become weaker, but in and of myself, I have become STRONGER.

Every day I live in the present and with the conviction that this is my BEST day, not my worst.

By facing my own death and the death of other’s, I have never been more aware of LIFE.

Acknowledging the possibility of death only ignites a fire to live.  Being present in darkness releases the light.  Just as light becomes brighter when it breaks into the darkness.

How is this possible?

From my own experience, there must be a source greater than the available resource of your own being.

If I’m to experience life in the presence of death, then I need a life flow that comes from the defeat of death.

If I’m to live in the light whilst surrounded by darkness, then I need a light source that has overcome darkness.

It is the infusion of life and light that fills your being, dispelling the fear of death and darkness.

This is truly living at your peak.

Our human nature with its delusions and left to its own devices, wants to preserve and protect us.  It can cause us to deny our own darkness.

In doing so, I think it has actually deprived us of a deeper awareness of life and the presence of light.

And in turn, it has given us a misguided view of our own personal peak.

You see your personal peak may be simply standing in the strength that comes from victory over death.  It may be awaiting your decision to step into the light.

If you are asking again, “but how is this possible?”  Let me put it this way.

What I am talking about is eternal, supernatural, and spiritual.  It’s the eternal, supernatural and spiritual life and light found in the person of Jesus Christ.

I believe that it is only possible to experience this when we are connected to the source, that is Jesus Christ, who overcame death, and created light, for you and me.

You see, at the very beginning of life itself, God spoke and declared “let there be light” and there was light (Genesis 1:3). But it didn’t end there, He kept fighting for us to experience light by defeating death.

Jesus put it this way “”I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life (John 8:12 NLT).”  Jesus made it simple for us, we simply acknowledge the pain, the death and darkness in our lives, and invite Him to be the life and light.

And then, Russell Brand sums it up nicely, saying this in a recent Relevant Magazine feature (yes, that Russell Brand, ex-husband of Katy Perry):

“If Christ consciousness is not accessible to us, then what is the point of the story of Jesus, you know?” he asks rhetorically. “He’s just a sort of a scriptural rock star, just an icon. Unless Christ is right here, right now, in your heart, in your consciousness, then what is Christ?”

[“Russell Brand: Unless Christ is in your heart, then what is Christ?”, sited 5 Jan 18, https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/russell-brand-unless-christ-is-in-your-heart-then-what-is-christ/ ]

Perhaps, while we are still at the beginning of this new year, it would be a good time for us all to look at the reality of our own death and darkness and choose light and life. 

I believe your peak performance is within your reach today, it just may look more like light and life than you expected it to.

Phil