Just A Moment

Remember the story of the eagle who was raised by chickens? From the floor of the barnyard she spots an eagle in the clouds, and her heart stirs. "I can do that!" she whispers. The other chickens laugh, but she knows better. She was born different. Born with a belief.

You were too. Your world extends beyond the barnyard of time. A foreverness woos you. Your heavenly life Everests the pebbles of your earthly life. If grains of sand measured the two, how would they stack up? Heaven would be every grain of sand on every beach on earth, plus more. Earthly life, by contrast, would be one hundredth of one grain of sand. Need a phrase to summarize the length of your life on earth? Try Jenna's: "Just a moment."

Wasn't this the phrase of choice for Paul? "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV).

What if we had a glimpse of the apostle as he wrote those words? By this time he had been "beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times," he writes, "I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep" (2 Corinthians 11:23-25). He goes on to refer to life-threatening river trips, wilderness wanderings, and exposure to cold, attacks, hunger, and thirst. These, in Paul's words, are light afflictions to be endured for just a moment.

What if we took the same attitude toward life? What if we saw our tough times as a grain of sand scarcely worthy of contrast with the forever dunes?

.....The brevity of life grants power to abide, not an excuse to bail. Fleeting days don't justify fleeing problems. Fleeting days strengthen us to endure problems. Will your problems pass? No guarantee they will. Will your pain cease? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But heaven gives this promise: "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV).

The words "weight of glory" conjure up images of the ancient pan scale.  Remember the blindfolded lady of justice? She holds a pan scale--two pans, one on either side of the needle. The weight of a purchase would be determined by placing weights on one side and the purchase on the other.

God does the same with your struggles. On one side he stacks all your burdens. Famines. Firings. Parents who forgot you. Bosses who ignored you. Bad breaks, bad health, bad days. Stack them up, and watch one side of the pan scale plummet.

Now witness God's response. Does he remove them? Eliminate the burdens? No, rather than take them, he offsets them. He places an eternal weight of glory on the other side. Endless joy. Measureless peace. An eternity of him. Watch what happens as he sets eternity on your scale.

Everything changes! The burdens lift. The heavy becomes light when weighed against eternity. If life is "just a moment," can't we endure any challenge for a moment?

We can be sick for just a moment.

We can be lonely for just a moment.

We can be persecuted for just a moment.

We can struggle for just a moment.

Can't we?

Can't we wait for our peace? It's not about us anyway. And it's certainly not about now.

--Max Lucado, It's Not About Me

Light and Momentary Troubles

Muuuuuuuchh better week this past week.  My energy returned, my mood was more level, etc.  It seems I just had a bad week there.  I won't panic next time if that happens again - - especially knowing it's probably temporary.

TMI alert:   I have now had two periods while on this program, and I am seeing HUGE improvements in that area.  This makes me so very happy, as this area has been extremely troublesome and frustrating.  I used to battle SEVERE gas pains and extremely painful bowel movements, periods lasting 8-9 days, and the whole thing would just kind of knock me out for days.  This past cycle only lasted for 4-5 days, and had little to no gas pains and regular, painless bowel movements.  SOOOO much better.  

I am still struggling with pretty bad eczema, so I've resorted to supplementing with my steroid cream just to get some relief.  Elbows, ear, and back of the neck are the worst.  

Interestingly enough, I have had almost no spring allergies this year.  I don't know why, but I'LL TAKE IT.  I am usually extremely miserable during May/June (since as far back as I can remember).  I don't know if it's diet or what, but I'm quite pleased with the break.

Running is going well.  I ran 11 times in the month of June, and feel like I'm improving a lot since last year.  Still making sure I get adequate rest in between, and taking it a day at a time.  This past weekend's long run was 6 miles, and it didn't feel that long at all.  I felt great!  

 

This picture of me and my boys was taken while we went blueberry picking the other night.  

This passage has been my favorite lately, and I wanted to share:

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 glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  -2 Corinthians 4:16-18