Written by: Erica Sawyer
Let’s be real. Life is not pretty.
The stuff you see on Facebook—the perfectly photoshopped pictures, a blemish free-face in your wedding photos, the perfectly happy, smiling family on display, with the dog crapping in the background completely cropped out….let me tell ya something… that’s not real, folks. Because in life, most usually, the reality is, there is always a dog crapping in our background.
Life is stinky, dirty, messy, rough, hard, muddy, grimy, slimy…see how many more you can come up with if you’re bored.
But in the midst of all of that mess, God gives us these little reminders of his beauty:
The colors in the morning sunrise…
The sound of waves washing up on the beach…
The touch of a dog cuddled up in your lap…
Watching a baby sleep…
The taste of the sweetest honey… these are simple reminders that amidst the pain and brokenness of this life, there’s beauty to be seen and goodness to be found. We can find hope for a restored future in these things.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that our trials are but a momentary affliction:
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
How can he tell us that when the suffering is so real; it doesn’t seem momentary to me?? But when you look at the eternal perspective when you look at God’s timeline—the 70 plus years that we are given in comparison to eternity—our life is “but a vapor” in the grand scheme of things.
There’s something so much better coming…something so much more glorious than the little things that we call good and beautiful here on this Earth.
The Earth that we see today is not the Earth that God created and one day He will restore it back to that original creation. Did you know that?? Did you know that you are not going to spend eternity in heaven but that you are actually going to spend eternity on the new Earth?! God will restore this Earth by fire and one day it will be our dwelling place for all eternity.
We will be given new bodies.
Have you ever thought about what that means?? Having a disability that keeps me from walking, I think about it constantly.
Will we have lungs?? Will we need to breathe?? Will we sleep?? Will we need to drink water?? Will we need to go to the bathroom?? What we have taste buds to taste the food?? Is there going to be food??
Have you ever sat and pondered about these things and chewed on them, like a cow chews its cud, you know really “chew” on them??
Or what about the idea of what we will be doing?? Eternity seems like a very long time. I’ve been to some pretty boring church services; I can’t imagine that being what God has planned for us.
I know God will give us each a specific job to do, but will there be fun things for us to do??
Will there be fast cars to speed around in?? Because I’ve always wanted to drive a stick shift.
Will there be horses to ride?? Because I can’t imagine heaven without them.
Will there be mountains to climb?? I’ve never climbed to the top of a mountain summit before.
All the things I couldn’t enjoy now because of my disability, will they be waiting for me there, Lord??
Or have you ever thought about the people that will see??
The Bible tells us that when we arrive on that fateful day, we will be greeted by the people whom OUR life changed. Each prayer that you prayed in faith that reached a broken soul, will be there to thank you. Each time you gave money, not out of obligation, but because God told you, they will be there thanking you for the ounce of grace you bought them. That small act of kindness you did, not for social media recognition, but so that person would be lifted up, will earn you an extra jewel in your crown…. All of those things, all of those people’s souls whom your life touched will be there to reveal how your faithfulness gives God all the glory. How many people will be there to greet you?? I’m sure we will be overwhelmed at how God has weaved together this life.
Our life has purpose. It has meaning. Every little thing you do, say, or think is part of a plan that is beyond our comprehension. I don’t think we can even comprehend one tiny fathom bit how amazing it’s all going to be. I don’t think our tiny little brains here can understand that.
But I do believe it will be revealed one day.
I think perhaps it’s going to be so glorious, I am going to wish I had done more here.
Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”
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