This Too Shall Pass

Whenever I think about the saying, "this too shall pass",  I hear it in my head stated very dramatically as if by a 16th Century King lifting his hand up, his signet ring catching the light.  Weird, I know...  lol.

As Believers, we are well acquainted with stories of suffering in the Bible as well as stories of martyrs most of whom suffered willingly for God's glory.

But yet this is not our natural response.  We want the suffering to  go away. {I wrote more about this is in my post How to Foster Hope When Circumstances Disappoint which you can read HERE.}

This Too Shall Pass - Where did the time go??

The older I get, the faster life seems to go by!  I can remember as a small child it seemed like the month of December lasted 10 years before Christmas would finally arrive.  lol.

Then there are the school age years, where we long for the day of no more school and no more homework.

We get married and have children.  In those early childhood years, we can feel isolated and overwhelmed, and in the moment, it can seem to drag by, but then suddenly, without warning, your little one is entering Kindergarten.

I don't know why, but for some reason this year it is really hitting me how fast life goes with impending high school graduations of both of my nieces.  It feels like just yesterday they were born!  Where did those 17 years go??

That and the fact that I will be 60 next year, and when I add a "fast" 17 years to that, well let's just say, whoa!!  lol.

With age comes perspective for sure.  I can recount back to many situations in my life both happy seasons and sad seasons, easy seasons and difficult seasons, where indeed the old adage fits, "This too shall pass".

Nothing is truly constant in life.

We all want the happy times to stick around forever, and we probably all feel like the bad times will never end.  It certainly can feel that way.

This Too Shall Pass - Clarity from the Beatitudes

I've heard the beatitudes countless times, but this weekend, when my Pastor read them at the beginning of the service, one small little word jumped out at me - "now".

And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,  who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.  And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

The Beatitudes

 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!

Luke 6:17-22

I hadn't noticed the different aspects of the beatitudes until this weekend just from the word "now".

For two of them, the blessing is concurrent with the condition.

We may be poor, but ours is the Kingdom of God.

We ARE blessed when hated, excluded and reviled, because of the Son of Man.

And the other two beatitudes from this portion of Scripture are filled with great hope and promise that this too shall pass...

 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Jesus gives us a beautiful Word picture of that hope realized as a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and  Sidon, came to hear Jesus and be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.  All the crowd who touched Jesus received His power and were healed.

It does not say how long those who came to be healed had suffered.  I mean think of the hemorrhagic women from the Bible...

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,  and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse— after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak.  For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”  Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

Mark 5:25-29

They could've suffered just as long if not longer.  Where was there, "this too shall pass"?

I do not suffer long well - at all!

Years ago, I had a sickness that rendered me very weak and dizzy for six weeks.  While in the thick of it, I thought it would never end.  I became irritable and depressed.

I have had seasons of anxiety, that seemed to last forever, where I became more anxious about wondering if it would ever go away - and of course, it did pass...

I'm sure you could add your own experiences about situations you wanted to end but kept on going.  You may be in one of those seasons now.

But take heart, this too shall pass!!

It's interesting that the focus of those two hope filled beatitudes are about areas of the human condition that are very painful.  How many times do we read in the Old Testament that the Israelites were feeling desperate and concerned for lack of food when they were in the desert.  Or those in the Bible who wore sack cloth and ashes and wailed following the death of a loved one.

And hunger comes in many forms.  You may be hungry for love, hungry for friendship, hungry for fellowship.

And weeping, of course, results from many circumstances.

But God, He promises that they will only last for a season.

This Too Shall Pass - An Attitude Shift

During one of my mindfulness meditation practices, the exercise has you focus on sensations in the body and to stay with it until it goes away.  And indeed the sensation DOES go away!  It's a very experiential way of realizing the ever-changingness of life.  {To learn about how I applied Mindfulness Meditation to the Christian Life, please head over to my post HERE.}

Some of you, like myself, may have a physical situation that indeed will not change unless by a miracle from God.  I have a blocked tear duct that I have had for about 5-6 years now and it will not open up again on its own.  I could have surgery for it, but at my age, those surgeries usually fail within a year or so and then your condition may be worse than at the start.  Certainly, I could have the surgery, and "this too shall pass", and certainly, I could wake up one morning and it could be gone because the Lord healed me OR this side of Heaven it won't be healed.  But that doesn't mean it hasn't passed in another sense.  What has passed is my resentment and anger toward my condition.  I have a way that I manage it which, well, makes it manageable.  lol.  In fact, the doctor liked my "technique" so much, he said he was going to pass it along to other female patients.  lol.

This doesn't mean that "this too WON'T pass"...  Like in my case, the Lord can bring about a change in circumstances for any of you through an attitude shift.

As an almost 60 year old, I have learned that it is important to enjoy EVERY moment to it's fullest.

I discovered this quote on a free printable from a blogger, but I don't know who the author is.

Be happy for this moment.

This moment is your life.

Great words to live by!  After all, Jesus died so that we could have life and have it abundantly.

Treasure the happy moments because they will pass as well, but take heart, they will return once again.  Jesus promises that!

But then that Great Day will come when our time on earth shall pass...  There will be no more crying,  no more pain.  We will pass from this ever-changing life to a never-changing eternity, EVERY moment will be happy and peace-filled because we will be in the presence of Jesus.

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