We’ve all heard the phrase “it’s only temporary.” Parents and childcare workers probably understand this phrase more than others. Our newborns are only that way temporarily. Then they grow into toddlers. Then on to preschool, elementary, middle, high, and so on.
Our daughter turned 13 in December, and our youngest son turned three this month. Yay us! A teenager and a three-nager! Although the age appropriate tantrums are awful, we also remind ourselves that they are temporary. Our middle child turned six this month. His “middle-child-syndrome” is temporary. We have a constant struggle with our daughter to clean her room. Our boys have asthma, so when they are sick, it feels like it takes forever for them to feel better. Looking at these struggles in the moment, it doesn’t feel temporary. But if we take a step back and look at the big picture, our daughter won’t always fight us to clean her room. Our boys won’t always be sick.
I work in Special Education in an elementary school. The kids I work with are medically fragile, all in wheelchairs. Each of their individual situations breaks my heart. Back in August when the new school year started, I cried almost every day once I got home. Alex would hug me and tell me “it’s only temporary.” And he’s right.
Pastor Mike has been known to say something along the lines of, “if we’re still here breathing, it’s because we haven’t achieved the purpose God left us here for.” So, I remind myself of that when I think of my students. Even special needs kids have a purpose. And what they experience is temporary, because when God finally takes them home, they won’t be medically fragile. They won’t be in wheelchairs. And what they went through here on earth will have only been temporary.
In 2 Corinthians 4:18, we read, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, and what is unseen is eternal.”
My kids’ tantrums are temporary.
My students’ medical issues are temporary.
That bad situation at work? Temporary.
The disagreement between you and your kids or spouse? Temporary.
Our time here on earth? Only. Temporary.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m glad we’re only here temporarily. Because the unseen that is awaiting us is so much better.
And while we’re waiting, go watch/ listen to “Fix My Eyes” by For King and Country.
