An E for Eternity

 We almost made it through the week without another "letter" from me. Oh, can I digress for just a moment? Does anyone else miss good old fashioned letters? I know I do. I miss writing them, mailing them, and receiving them too! There's just something about getting a handwritten letter in the mail that is just so nostalgic and cozy. Now people call them "snail mail" and "fun mail".  It's all good. Anyway, let's get on to the Happy Alphabet, and that letter is "E". "E" for "Eternal, or Eternity." Eternity is not just the wonderful perfume I wore on my wedding day. (Foreshadowing)

I have lost many things throughout my life, and I haven't always taken those losses well. Family, friendships, health, and many others. Each time I would lose some type of relationship or opportunity, it felt like the end of the world. Each time my health would fail me, it felt like every secondary loss that came with it meant my life would change forever. I got tired of feeling the rejection and abandonment feelings that came every time I was let down. I wasn't rolling with the punches anymore. I was just getting punched and bruised all over. What changed my perspective was the lens I was viewing my losses through. I was going directly to "doom" thinking. I was taking everything at face value. I was forgetting that this is not all there is. The problems of this world and the hurts in my life are temporary, so I don't need to take it all so hard. Yes, it hurts, but it doesn't need to steal my joy and my happiness with it. Have you ever heard someone say, "We live in the world, but we are not OF this world"? Well, that is what it means to see yourself as an eternal being, and not a worldly one. 

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an ETERNAL (emphasis mine) glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

This world is not all there is! And it's not all we are either. That is of great comfort to me, knowing that everything we are going through is temporary, will be used in some way to glorify the God we serve, and we will one day be with God, spiritually new, where none of these problems exist. To be able to look at life eternally is to understand that every small thing that upsets me is basically a waste of time. Every big thing is still big, but when viewed with God's perspective, I don't have to be crushed by it. 

When I look at things with an eternal lens, I can appreciate that my health issues are temporary.  I will either be healed here on earth or in heaven, but one day I will be restored.  The world may be an awful place where terrible things happen, but it's not our forever home if we have accepted Christ as our savior and not the world. When I look at broken relationships from a worldly perspective, there is often a lot of psychological terms tossed around, or confusion about how or who, what or why. But when looked at from God's eternal perspective, it's simple. At least in my experience (I don't speak for everyone), forgiveness is the way I can experience happiness in relationships even when they are non-existent, because I let go of them and allow God to do the healing. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves, not the offender, and it doesn't excuse their offense, only your hold over them and their hold over you. When we let go of grudges and bitterness, we experience freedom. 

When we look at life from an eternal perspective, it can be very freeing. We are going through some life-changing events right now, and it has been difficult, to say the least. Watching others go through end of life stages is some of the most difficult things I have ever experienced. Some times there are no clear cut ways to put an "eternal bow" on any situation, and I have witnessed this firsthand. Some situations just don't make sense, and it is at these times I have heard people wonder why God would allow such things to occur. As a believing person, I understand their pain, but that is why we have to get to know Christ so that we can walk through some of these really hard times with Him.  I've been through many of those, and have all the cracks in my heart to show for it. Each time, my faith has gotten stronger, not weaker, even if the outcome wasn't what I had hoped. Trusting God doesn't mean He does what we want. It means we trust Him, and no, it won't always make sense. Thinking eternally means really thinking outside the human box, and that is not easy! 

And probably the hardest eternal perspective to see was the one I had to find during my periods of grief. One of my most faith-tested times was when I lost my brother. He was only 50, and taken suddenly and without warning. I was so hurt and so angry, and then bottled it all up for a good long time.  God heard all kinds of rebuttal from me every day! But I think back, and I'm guessing He was glad I was still talking to Him. He wants us hot or cold, and never lukewarm. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15,16 All I can say is that through those situations, I have learned to trust God to show it to me at some point, and He will. I have had to learn to give in to His will, because believing in Him and His will for me is so much better than trusting that this world has anything long-lasting for me. 

When I lost my dad just 3 years after losing my brother, I wasn't ready to say goodbye, and I still miss his gentle voice and his loving presence every day. But knowing he is waiting for us in the eternal place of heaven, restored, is why I can rejoice here on earth. It's why I can be happy when I think of him, and even for my brother, though sad for his sons who are going on without him. I realized that both things can exist. I can be both sad and happy at the same time, and my "world" won't end. I can go on without certain friends, I can go on while certain family think what they want to think. I can go on with health issues doing whatever they're going to do. I can go on while the world rages out of my control. I can because this is not all there is. I never have to feel rejected or abandoned or hopeless for any reason. When God is the first and final stop, there is no loss at all.

Blessings to you.