itsawonderfilledlife

Today is not the end …
stop looking at the reality of today as the reality of an eternity …
God is still working things out

That has been my mantra for about a year. I do not remember exactly when, or where or what prompted me to adopt those words and their meaning as my mantra. I do know that it was born out of great fear and sadness and anxiety for those who I love.

When phases of our life come to completion we often think that we should have it all together.

When we graduate high school or university, when engagement turns to marriage, when our final child is born, when our final child graduates from high school or college, when we retire, when we reach thirty, or forty, or seventy …

Often, not long after having completed that milestone there is a crashing down, as the expectations we had for where we should be come crashing down, leaving us with feelings of inadequacy, disappointment and failure.

It can result in us feeling a failure.

But …

Today is not the end …
stop looking at the reality of today as the reality of an eternity …
God is still working things out

I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:12:

“We don’t yet see things clearly.
We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won’t be long before the weather clears
and the sun shines bright!
We’ll see it all then,
see it all as clearly as God sees us,
knowing him directly just as he knows us!”

Whether we are agonizing over what to do after high school, finding that dream job after  university (with the student loan payments knocking at your door), wondering where the love is gone after the ‘I dos’, frustrated that giving birth has not brought the fulfillment you had dreamed of, are not experiencing the job successes anticipated at this age, relationships are not joy-filled, children are not walking with God, health is not optimal, and so on …

Today is not the end …

If we still have breath in our lungs, we and life and everything and everyone in it still have time. There is still hope! It is not over yet!

stop looking at the reality of today as the reality of an eternity …

Whatever is our reality today can still change. Today is not the reality of tomorrow, of eternity. We still need to live in today, be thankful for today and pray for tomorrow.

God is still working things out

He is still on it! He has not given up, nor does he necessarily have the same timeline that we do. The final product may look very different than our dreams, but God does have a final product in mind … we need to pray that our mind is his mind.

God’s love for us is greater than we can reciprocate. It is for success and fulfillment that is beyond earthly ambitions. His goal is that all of his children come to Him.

We need to remember that :

“We don’t yet see things clearly.
We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.”

Our imperfect vision is impaired today. We may not be able to see clearly, but we can live faithfully, trusting that the God who creates, sustains and redeems is still on it … one his timeline, and in his way.

“But it won’t be long before the weather clears
and the sun shines bright!
We’ll see it all then,
see it all as clearly as God sees us”

And to that, all we can say is “amen”.