I have become increasingly aware this year of the temporary nature of this world and how it has creeped and seeped inside everything I do. We live in a very temporal state. Nothing lasts forever, and a LOT of things don’t last more than a few years at most – furniture, mattresses, marriages, you name it! And I can start to feel as if this is normal and right and ‘okay’. But the temporary nature of life begins to breed fear and anxiety and ultimately unfulfillment. It’s hard to trust anyone or anything when my life has, in my mind, proven that nothing lasts.
Enter the Church Year. In His Mercy, God has given me a way to be reminded of the truth and eternal nature of who He is by allowing me to enter into every part of Him year after year. God knew we had short memories. He knew we needed reminders and paths to walk on again and again in order to ensure we could remember what we need to: His birth, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. We need reminders of all of these things and so every year we are brought into a season of repetition and remembrance so that we can truly enter in.
Temporary is difficult. The lie is that it is real freedom and that we can change our minds on things at will. That I can decide everything. That I have all the power and authority in my own hearts and life. But the truth is that this is like a chain. This type of belief creates very short-lived happiness, but ends in frustration and a real sense of being lost. So, it means I have to keep re-creating, keep changing who I am in an effort to reach truth and peace. But to find true joy and peace and truth, I must remember that our God is eternal, his promises are eternal, the truth of the gospel is eternal. There is nothing peaceful about temporary. I NEED to be grounded to find peace. Only HE get’s to tell me who I am. I read a quote recently by James Bryan Smith that I just can’t get off my mind and it speaks to this very point.
“I am the one in whom Christ Dwells and Delights
I live in the Strong Unshakable Kingdom of God. T
he Kingdom is not in trouble and neither am I”
This life I live is but a spot on the timeline of Christ and his reign over this earth. He has been ruling for thousands of years and will continue to reign throughout eternity. It’s beyond my comprehension, but in practicing the rhythms of Church Calendar, I feel that I am reminded over and over of that truth. The Kingdom is not in trouble, and neither am I. I can rest in that.
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