Everything is fleeting

Last week, I was blessed with the opportunity to drive to Texas and visit 2 friends who are now living out there, which is also why there have been no posts for a while...my bad. I absolutely loved Texas, which completely surprised me. But what I enjoyed even more was getting to spend quality time with some of my closest friends. Needless to say it was a great week, from going to the best waterpark in the country to running across Texas stadium in the rain (epic, I know).

Imagine being in the center in the pouring rain

However, throughout the week, I did not have a lot of Christ-focused conversations like I have been having this summer. Not to say we just talked about bad things all the time, but rather we just didn't bring up Christ a lot. I've never noticed that before. The idea that everything is fleeting doesn't really connect to that, but it totally did in my head, so I am going to talk about it.

I've come to realize that even though I claim to place all my trust in the Lord, I totally don't. I put trust in friends, in money, in my accomplishments, in my skills, in my surroundings. Why do I do this? I know everything else is fleeting. I think sometimes its easier to put trust in things we see. But as Hebrews 11:1 tells us,

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I don't know about you, but I definitely need to work on my faith. I can't physically see God, but I know He's there. Sometimes I wonder if God made it this way so we have to rely on Him even more and can't even use our physical senses to experience Him. I feel like I'm going on a tangent here. Back to why I thought of this.

It's so easy to put our trust in things we see, but those things won't last. I was talking to a friend recently about this, and how even the things we hold most dear will pass away.The idea of friendships fleeting hit me this last week. I can hope for all my friendships from childhood and then from college will last forever, but inevitably, they won't. I mean, I'm not even done with college and I have fleeting friendships! If my hope is in those relationships, I'm going to be hurting a lot. But if I'm trusting in the Lord, I can rely on my rock, my Savior. Not to say that losing friends can suck a little, but God will bring us through it.

Here is a verse to bring home a point.

⁶ A voice says, "Cry out."

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

"All men are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the LORD blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:6-8

When the perfection of God is merely blown on us, we wither. And if we are God's most proud creation, imagine what everything else does when He blows on it. He needs to be the solid rock we stand on. We need to go through life knowing that things might be good, but that they won't last.

This even goes so far to include mission work. As of right now I planning on being a full-time missionary, so this hit home for me. It may seem like mission work isn't fleeting because it's pleasing to God. False. We won't be ministering to people in Heaven, or at least I don't think so. Ergo, mission work is fleeting. I think I need to tell myself over and over that everything is fleeting, except God.

I've noticed that in college it is very easy to rely on everything else beside God. You have a steady place to live, friends around you 24/7, a set schedule, great community, etc. Yet when you graduate, you notice how quickly all that stuff fades away. I haven't graduated yet, but I know people who have/are experiencing this. It's a growing process for sure, but wouldn't it be nicer to trust in the Lord when things are good and going well?

Unfortunately, that rarely happens because we are so quick to attribute success and enjoyment to things other than God. Then when the storm comes, we turn to Him. I don't know if it's our culture or our ridiculous excess of wealth, but something makes it easier for us to tune out God.

My prayer right now is that I can trust solely in Him, and that I can take everything else for what it is; fleeting. I want God to be my rock and my salvation. I think Psalm 62 says it best (Scripture usually says it best...It is the word of God)

¹ My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

² He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Does your soul find rest in God alone? Is He your rock and your salvation?

I should clarify. I don't mean to say ignore everything else in your life except God. You can enjoy friends and family and success and all that jazz, just don't put your faith and hope in it. You have to remember that it can all go away, and if it did you'd be fine because you had placed all your trust in the Lord. A good question to ask yourself is how would you react to losing your closest friends or your job or your skills? Would it ruin you or could you move on?