The Grass Withers

This week I've said a prayer for my friend Dawn everytime I drive down the street. The For Sale sign in her mom's yard is a very visable reminder that Sharon's not here anymore. As sad as I am, I'm thankful for a God who reminds me what matters most. Dawn's mom took very good care of their yard, to say the least. I was thinking yesterday that it was a shame that after years of immaculate care, whoever moved in probably wouldn't take care of the lawn like she did. Then I was reminded, "The grass withers and the flower fall, but the word of our God stands forever." -Isaiah 40:8 . Beth Moore said it beautifully in my bible study this week: "Every time we think, surely there is more to life than this, we hear the hint of eternity in our hearts. Every time we learn the cancer has returned and we're willing to go through another treatment, our drive to hang on to life is the hint of eternity in our hearts. Every time our love outlasts our loved one's life, we hear eternity's murmur. Everything in us that cries out in resistance to an end comes from an innate sense that we were meant to be without one. Haven't we all noticed that something seems wrong and painful about 'endings'? We resist them furiously because a longing for 'always' is set in our hearts. Though our bodies are temporal, our souls are eternal, and our hearts testify continually to 'forevers'. This is true for the redeemed and unredeemed alike. All normal people long for a life without end and a love that doesn't end. For those who trust in Jesus Christ, the end of earthly life means only a change of wardrobe, from an earthly tent of flesh to a body fit for eternity. Our longing hearts will find fulfillment in Christ. (See II Corinthians 5:1-10) When at last our grip is peeled off the tree limb, we'll wonder why we ever hung on. Strangely, we hang on to this life in our hidden longing for the next. El Olam (Eternal God) set eternity in our hearts." -Beth Moore