How great it is to hear that a friend has been renewed. They've finally found it, all that they've been searching for and all that's been searching for them. Newly assured and awaken, they feel enlightened. How it glows, so obvious, so certain. It's contagious at the least. In an instant you feel just as happy as they are and overwhelmed with unexplainable joy.

But then sometimes, that only lasts for a moment. Sometimes, as soon as possible, your mind finds an opportunity to think deeper than before- deeply enough to realize that you aren't really as satisfied with your situation as you may have fooled yourself to think. The joy begins to vanish, unveiling reality. And in reality, we discover where we're really standing in our walk.

Here, we just can't help but realize how helplessly we have slid back into our old habits. We remember being in our friend's position, amazing, perfect. And now we look at where we stand presently, and frankly we only find disappointment. Even worse, we feel a sense of jealousy. Jealous of their movement while we remain stationary. Why can't we be like that again? Why do we always fall back down right when things seem like they can't get any better? How we hate our inconsistency. It's depressing and frustrating to know that our evil tendency is stronger than our courageous stance. Tears follow me, falling constantly just as I am. And it goes so sadly unnoticed until we open our eyes, quit ignoring God, and finally realize how far away the top of that hill is. That hill that we already made it to the top of. How frustrating.

Well, sometimes we just need to be happy that we were shown this tragic truth at the point that we did, and pray that we can be given the courage to make the climb back up.