Mood Tides: Divine Purpose in the Rhythms of Life

by Ronald A. Horton

Mood Tides examines the nature of the self as seen by famous thinkers and then searches the Scriptures to discover God the Creator s perspective. Ronald Horton explains that our emotional selves mirror God's own being and that the rhythms of life are designed to help us experience and understand all that He wants us to learn. Accepting the heights and depths of emotion as natural and intended can free us to become the completed Christians that God desires us to be.

Genres: Christian Living, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Joel Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often give books five stars. I could consider giving this one six. And that's in spite of the fact that this isn't an easy read.

I took a number of Philosophy courses from Dr. Horton. In terms of lecture delivery style, he was not engaging. (I hope he doesn't read this review.) And he was also one of the best teachers I ever had. His lectures were pre-written and read. The content was so profound I wanted to write down every word.

That personality comes out in this book. The writing style is thick, compact, weighty. This is no light, easy reading to buzz through while you're multitasking. And the thoughts are profound. (I should say, the writing is lucid and never verbose. It just leaves you feeling like you should read each paragraph slowly with lots of thought.)

Major ideas I particularly profited from:
-Emotions often come in cycles, somewhat like the business cycle. That isn't necessarily evil. Apparently, we sometimes assume that godly Christianity is perfectly placid or constantly on cloud nine. But look at the emotional life of Jesus Christ. There were times of great anguish and there were times of great joy.
-The key is to recognize that each aspect of emotional cycles or of the circumstances we face brings with it specific temptations. Our task at those points is to respond in a Spirit-controlled or Christ-like way. When we feel good, the temptation might be to pride or self-will. When we are low the temptation will be to depression or despair. We have to handle those periods of time biblically and spiritually. Certainly, there are wrong choices we might make at these times that make emotions deeper or more extreme. To this extent, it might be true that biblical thinking brings our emotions into better control. But this shouldn't lead us to the conclusion that Christ-like people never feel emotional changes—at least that wasn't true of Christ Himself!
-In fact, each aspect of the emotional cycle also has its advantages. Good times lead us to praise and rejoicing. Consider as well what Ecclesiastes says about the difficult times. We might discover that our best and deepest thoughts come out of these struggles.
-We might also observe that God made each plant or animal different and with a beautiful diversity across nature. Similarly, each individual is a unique creation from God. One person might be more naturally a melancholic; another might be sanguine. As we each become more like Christ, these aspects of our temperaments will grow more tempered and conformed to God's ideal for us. But we are allowed to be different.
-As a lesser point, there is no reason to assume that physical causes can't be involved in our emotional struggles. If our bodies affect us mentally, why can't they affect us emotionally as well? {To be sure, this doesn't give us an excuse for not handling things well or drive us to use "feel-good drugs." It might, however point us to adopt better sleep patterns, use our time more constructively, exercise, and eat better.]

[Allison Anderson Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and I loved Dr. Horton - I was reading it at the time of his passing and I felt so glad to have his book and remember his sage advice to me as a young 20 year old. He could have packed this book with personal (wise) opinion and life experiences to back up his arguments, but instead he uses solid Biblical study and understanding of God to guide each chapter of this small, helpful book. His writing is Biblically logical and reminds me of C. S. Lewis's writings, though a little more succinct and verse -backed and driven than Lewis.

Also: I love his musical themed outline.

The Rhythms of Life
The Simplified Selves
The Mysterious Self
The Sacrificed Self
The Exalting Self
The Suffering Self
Llife's Music

Ecc. 7:14 - In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider.

Quotes I needed:

"The unpressured Christian would be poorer in the next world for having had no trials in this one."

"But if emotional variation is inevitable, spiritual variation is not."

"reactional thinking" is a great point he makes and I wish more Christians out there realized that the opposite of a wrong idea doesn't necessarily make the right idea. In some things, there are both good and bad and we must learn to distinguish between them and appreciate the good.

"True discipleship is something owed to the Master, and that motive must emphatically remain primary. But it is also a prudential matter - a duty, we may say, to ourselves."

"It is entirely natural to feel frustration when desires are unrealized."

"Self-denial then bears no resemblance to self-denigration and self-rejection."

"Scripture does not mandate an unflappable emotional norm."

"What are called handicaps can hedge us in to success in paths of greatest blessing."

"Pride is the active, despair the passive, rejection of God."

"The lesson of Jacob's two pillars is that sublimity and sorrow belong to our lives, but not in pointless succession. There is purpose in it all. "


And so much more - READ IT!

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give one book 6 stars, this would be it. Took me multiple months to finish this 191 page book because of the incredible density of it. Never before have I taken so many notes inside a book. Dr. Horton writes with rich prose but also with such a deep understanding of His God.
If you are a thinker, I encourage you to read this book. It's not just "another book about emotions" but rather a book that encourages the reader to think about variableness of the human life in light of God's loving and grand design.
If anything, I have come away 1) marvelling at God's love and complexity towards His creation 2) realizing even greater my inferiority and how "unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out"

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Mood Tides, which concerns the relationship of the emotions to spirituality, Ronald Horton argues that “both high and low spirits have their place in the spiritual life”(11) and that God sends both to increase the spiritual maturity of His children. In the process of explicating this thesis, Horton discusses classical, modern, and Christian models of the self and warns Christians against staking out an unbiblical position only because it is diametrically opposed to another erroneous one. Although no friend of the self-esteem movement, Horton is clearly sympathetic to those who suffer from depression, especially criticizing Christians who too glibly attribute chronic low spirits to sinfulness. Horton never flaunts his considerable knowledge of philosophy, and the book is written in a careful, limpid style intelligible even to the non-college-educated reader. Beyond Pilgrim's Progress and The Screwtape Letters, few books about the Christian life have made as much impression on my thinking as has Mood Tides.

[Renee Cheek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is going to be a re-read for me. The author was my teacher for Literary Criticism in college—a kind and gentle man who passed away fairly recently. Perhaps the reading was especially meaningful with the knowledge of the author in mind, the fact that I read it with crashing waves in front of me, or the fact that I finished reading it during a particularly sensitive time in my life. Maybe a combination of the three. Dr. Horton released a special gift here, and I am a grateful recipient.

[Jackie Eason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the privilege of having Dr Horton as a teacher, so it felt like I was back in class when I read this. Just like his lectures, every sentence was thoroughly precise and thoughtful. I really appreciated the scope of his approach in this philosophical book.

[Paul Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking work that helped me to change the way I viewed some of my inner struggles.