I planted these seeds a couple of months ago in front of our house and I'm just starting to see real flowers. It's truly some kind of miracle that I don't even begin to understand. You plant an itsy-bitsy tiny little thing in the ground and from that little seed comes leaves and flowers and beauty. Or different fruit, vegetables and huge trees, it's truly amazing. God is clever.
"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living enduring word of God. For 'All men are like grass, and all of their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever...'"
1Pet. 1:23-25
We also have a bush of beautiful pink hibiscus' in front of our home. I love them because of the bright pink petals and so sometimes I pick a few and put them in a little glass of water. Usually by the next day they are wrinkled and dying and I have to throw them away.
It has been of great comfort to my heart these days to meditate on the brevity of this life and more importantly the vast eternity of God. He never changes and He is the Living Eternal One who lives outside of time. I love these verses from 1 Peter and Isaiah 40. There is an undying eternal seed within those who love Jesus; something that cannot be destroyed, something that will never die. This life with all of it's pleasures and pains, with all of it's sickness and anguish will one day fade away into something glorious and true. There is a day set in His heart when every tear will be wiped away and everything done in secret, whether for good or for evil will be revealed. There is a day coming, more certain than the dawn, when all of the wrong things will be made right. Even now just writing about it, there is a longing in my heart beyond words. Oh, come Lord Jesus.
All of my plans and ambitions and longings, all of my strivings and hopes, anything that I may ever attain, it's all a breath, a vapor, a twinkling. " The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever." I love that He doesn't change His mind. His word and the intentions of His heart, His commitments, His name and very character, they remain the same forever, for all of eternity. He is love and to the depths of His being He is good and right and powerful. This comforts me. Our lives are so much more than this temporal journey of 70-80 years. He has plans that exist for us outside of time. There is an eternal seed within us that will continue to grow; we will be like Him when we see Him as He is. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
"Longing is the echo of eternity within our souls. It is that which sets us apart and makes us pilgrims on the journey. This world is not our home and our inner ache gives testimony to the brevity of life and the weight of eternity." -D. Candler
