Eternity In Our Hearts
I've been reading "Anything" by Jennie Allen, and I got to a certain part that ended up with stars handwritten all over it, so that when I'm flipping through the book I'll find the page easily. It is for when I have moments that I need to be reminded of what I read all over again.
She wrote about sea turtles. When it's time for a female sea turtle to give birth, she climbs out of the sea, digs a hole in the sand, and then lays anywhere from fifty to two hundred eggs in the hole. She covers them up and goes back to the ocean. When then little turtles hatch, they find themselves in a dark, crowded hole in the ground. No mother. No idea where they are. However, it's like they have an interior voice telling them what to do, telling them that they weren't created to live in a hole forever. So they push out of the hole in the sand and use their awkward sea flippers to scoot across the beach towards the ocean. It's a treacherous march with obstacles to overcome and predators to escape, but when they arrive to the ocean, their real life begins. Because they knew they weren't created for that hole in the ground. They were created for the ocean, and it's there that they find their mother and the lives they were created to live.
It reminded me of Francis Chan's video that I saw once where he talks about eternity. He has this long rope that represents time - so long that you can't see the end - and at one end is a tiny tape that serves as a marker to represent the span of our lives. It's literally nothing compared to the length of the entire rope. It's a breath, a blink of an eye. Our lives are so incredibly short when we think about it in comparison with eternity. Our lives are like the amount of time the baby turtles spend in a hole in the sand compared to the experience of life in the ocean.
If our lives really are like a moment in the scope of eternity, why would we spend all our time, effort, and energy solely on the things of this world, which will be over in just a moment? Does it not make more sense to invest every ounce of who we are on eternal things? And what is eternal? Only God, his word, and the souls of people.
It had to be thoughts of the ocean that got the turtles moving. If they were content to stay in the sand, they would never arrive at the destination they were made for.
Yet sometimes I get consumed with my hole in the sand. I get caught up in my little life and what seems like such a big deal to me, whether it's my struggles or the decisions I have to make, and I hear the Lord saying to my heart, "Lift your eyes."
Lift your eyes. Eternity is so near. We will be there in just a few minutes.
This changes the way we experience life and death and hardships. Life becomes a breath. Hardships become light and momentary. Death becomes a transition - a passage or a door into the ocean that we were created for. For those who believe, it is a celebration of arrival. For those who do not, it is a wake up call to alert us to spiritual and eternal realities once again. Evangelism becomes urgent. It becomes the most important thing we could possibly spend our time doing. An eternal perspective changes the way we spend our time, energy, and money. It changes the way we pray and worship and love others. It's what makes us crawl out of the hole towards the great big ocean.
For we weren't created for this hole in the ground, but we have an interior voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling us how to make it home. Home is where the Father is, and spending eternity with him is the destination we were created for.
Guys, we'll be there so soon. Our lives are so short and eternity is so near. Hang on through all the struggles, push past the barriers, and keep marching onward. I can hear the waves crashing against the shore.
She wrote about sea turtles. When it's time for a female sea turtle to give birth, she climbs out of the sea, digs a hole in the sand, and then lays anywhere from fifty to two hundred eggs in the hole. She covers them up and goes back to the ocean. When then little turtles hatch, they find themselves in a dark, crowded hole in the ground. No mother. No idea where they are. However, it's like they have an interior voice telling them what to do, telling them that they weren't created to live in a hole forever. So they push out of the hole in the sand and use their awkward sea flippers to scoot across the beach towards the ocean. It's a treacherous march with obstacles to overcome and predators to escape, but when they arrive to the ocean, their real life begins. Because they knew they weren't created for that hole in the ground. They were created for the ocean, and it's there that they find their mother and the lives they were created to live.
It reminded me of Francis Chan's video that I saw once where he talks about eternity. He has this long rope that represents time - so long that you can't see the end - and at one end is a tiny tape that serves as a marker to represent the span of our lives. It's literally nothing compared to the length of the entire rope. It's a breath, a blink of an eye. Our lives are so incredibly short when we think about it in comparison with eternity. Our lives are like the amount of time the baby turtles spend in a hole in the sand compared to the experience of life in the ocean.
If our lives really are like a moment in the scope of eternity, why would we spend all our time, effort, and energy solely on the things of this world, which will be over in just a moment? Does it not make more sense to invest every ounce of who we are on eternal things? And what is eternal? Only God, his word, and the souls of people.
It had to be thoughts of the ocean that got the turtles moving. If they were content to stay in the sand, they would never arrive at the destination they were made for.
Yet sometimes I get consumed with my hole in the sand. I get caught up in my little life and what seems like such a big deal to me, whether it's my struggles or the decisions I have to make, and I hear the Lord saying to my heart, "Lift your eyes."
Lift your eyes. Eternity is so near. We will be there in just a few minutes.
This changes the way we experience life and death and hardships. Life becomes a breath. Hardships become light and momentary. Death becomes a transition - a passage or a door into the ocean that we were created for. For those who believe, it is a celebration of arrival. For those who do not, it is a wake up call to alert us to spiritual and eternal realities once again. Evangelism becomes urgent. It becomes the most important thing we could possibly spend our time doing. An eternal perspective changes the way we spend our time, energy, and money. It changes the way we pray and worship and love others. It's what makes us crawl out of the hole towards the great big ocean.
For we weren't created for this hole in the ground, but we have an interior voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit, telling us how to make it home. Home is where the Father is, and spending eternity with him is the destination we were created for.
Guys, we'll be there so soon. Our lives are so short and eternity is so near. Hang on through all the struggles, push past the barriers, and keep marching onward. I can hear the waves crashing against the shore.
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