As you may know, I'm currently working on my master's degree and am almost a third of the way through the program. This morning, someone asked me how school was going. I had to confess that almost every day I just want to quit. Not because I don't enjoy what I'm learning, but because I hate having to use all my free time to study and write papers. I live in the most fabulous town and am surrounded by amazing friends; I hate missing out on even a moment of the fun. But every time I want to quit I remind myself of the reason I'm doing this program - so that I can get a job helping those in need full time and be better equipped to serve on the mission field. The end is what I'm working for. The difficulties I have now are temporary; a path I must travel to get to where I want to be.
So it is with life. The time we have here on earth is only temporary - necessary to get us to our final destination: heaven. This life may be full of struggles, but it’s not all there is for those of us who believe. We have far greater things awaiting us. It's like traveling on vacation. You may have a terrible time getting there - delayed flights, sickness, turbulence, lost luggage, car problems, etc. - but you put up with all of that because you know that it must come to an end and when you reach that end everything will be delightful. The traveling difficulties will be instantly forgotten. Paul had a similar perspective: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17). If I really think about my life as just the traveling time necessary to reach my blissful vacation with my Father, the difficulties I have here on earth seem small and easily forgotten. Everything falls into perspective. And so I persevere, both in school and in life, knowing that, as C.S. Lewis said in The Last Battle: “All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
:)
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