"I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write." ~St. Augustine

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Forever Foundation

I don't readily understand forever.

Temporary, I get.  Everything in our world dies or ends at some point, right?  All things have an end.  All things in this life are destroyed or wither away.  Things break.  They are consumed. This comes and that goes.

This world I see and touch and taste has endings each and every day.  Good-byes are a part of life, sometimes everyday.  Even saying goodbye to the smallest of things.  Temporary, I get.

Not to be morbid, but, temporary is something I think I even unconsciously plan for.  I assume.  Whether this is a product of my nature or my nurture/background--- or just my human experience, I can't discern.  But, truly, I am generally ready on some level for the end.

And sometimes I wonder if this depth of understanding... this "getting" of temporary trickles into and informs my thoughts about God and who He is.

And then I read, His love endures forever.  (Psalm 136)


Forever.  


I don't readily understand forever.  And yet, when I read this ...and think on it and ponder and pray...  I am moved and encouraged somewhere deep within.  The concept of a love that never ends and always has been settles me and surrounds me.  I can sit here.  I can rest on this foundation.

Do I sometimes assume or plan for God's love to end, too?  Do I wonder, from time to time, if I (or this world) have used it all up?  If His love endures up until this or that...  rather than forever.  His love endures forever.  

Where temporary slips and moves and falters, forever is stable and solid.  Forever speaks to my heart of something more, something beyond, something wonderfully above me, my world and my 'planning for'.  It speaks of a foundation that is bigger and broader and beyond me:  His love.