Have you ever known someone who never ever let you down? Someone you could put all your faith in to provide you with all answers, all comfort, and all security needed to live in a broken world? Many people recall a best friend, elderly grandparent, or significant other in these roles.
Still, when we have someone six feet away, or we only see them every six months or less, we do not have the lense that lets us see their flaws. Frequency or intimacy acts as a magnifying glass.
Some people move from mate to mate when the honeymoon period ends. Other people move from house to house when they see cracks in the concrete, and others polish their new vehicles every week to keep that "new car smell" from fading.
It is only when you find all your comfort, security, and passion in something bigger than this world that you let loose temporal things and parishing people. You give people the freedom to fail you. You don't need them to fulfill your great expectations. You can forgive and move forward in faith.
Everyone and everything will at some point disappoint you if you get close enough. This is not a call to despair though. Rather than keeping closeness an arms length away, put your faith in that which doesn't fade so that you can enjoy more fully those things that do.
Fall never seems to last long enough for me. The leaves quickly turn and peel from their branches, but each turn of season reminds me how little we can hold on to the things we love.
The book of Ecclesiastes mentions the word "meaningless" or "vanity" almost forty times. This word has it's basis in that which means "hevel" or "smoke, breath, and mist." In other words, we can see it, but we cannot grasp onto it with our hands.
While a quick read of the book depicts a bleak outlook on life, "I hate life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecc. 2:17). A deeper dig provides purpose in pain and enjoyment in life. "When God gives someone wealth and possessions and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil--this is a gift from God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart" (Ecc. 5:19-20).
If you put too much emphasis on anything (an election, a cause, a profession, a season, a person) you will be sorely disappointed because their is evil in this world, and there will always be evil in this world. But if all your toil is for God's glory and knowing Him more intimately, then by His grace you will have the ability to find pleasure in the temporary gifts of any season, good or bad.
Fall, like fun, will fade fast, but to him who knows autumn's maker, every day will give, even a glimpse, of heavenly colors.
~Carefully Careless
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