Temporarily Sweet

When I wrote my last status update on Facebook, …“it’s temporary, ya’ll,” I wasn’t thinking about anything but the star tattoo I have adorned on my foot since the second night of our family beach vacation. The caption matched the new profile pic I posted, one of my stubby 5-toed foot and said star. In case you’re curious…
I wrote the update/caption after wondering if any of my ink-rejecting, conservatively wired friends would palpatate and think I’d lost my mind at Myrtle Beach and gotten a real one (tattoo, that is) when they saw the picture.

Not yet, friends. Not just yet. ☺

But when I cracked open my Bible this morning and read this passage in Job, I couldn’t help but see the irony in my own words…

“Like something rotten, human life fast decomposes, like a moth-eaten shirt or a mildewed blouse.” (Job 13:28 The MSG)

Ok, first let me say what you’re probably thinking……ewwww.

Not the typical word picture I enjoy when looking for nourishment from God’s Word. But as always, truth greets me everytime I open my Bible, whether it be something that soothes my soul or stirs it.

Call me crazy, but I think I know what Job was thinking. I think what he’s trying to say here is that “it’s temporary, ya’ll.”

Not just spray-painted on tattoos, of course. Someone schooled at the Hard Knock Academy would not be so trite as to be referring to that.

Instead he is talking about…that thing called…life.

I should know this from my own personal experience, especially since I just returned from a long weekend in a place I called home for 13 years of mine. I’m long gone since my residency there. I’ve since made a new home for myself in a different part of the country and different time zone. But at the time I lived there, it seemed like I might live there…forever.

Between the tattoo and the thoughts of my recent trip to a place I called home, I find comfort in the spiritual application.

Strangely enough, both have reminded me that my life here on earth is temporary. I have no idea how “temporary” for me is measured on days I am breathing, but it really doesn’t matter. Amidst all the “don’t knows” of my life, the one thing I am as sure of as the fact I am math challenged is that I am not staying put here forever. One day I’ll be gone. So will you, by the way.

As hard as it may be to fathom or admit, neither you nor I was put here on this earth to be a wife or a mom or a friend or a child or an attorney or a neighbor or a church-goer or a cousin or a really good person. My personal opinion is that God is gracious enough to give us those beautiful “roles” in life to allow us to endure the scratches and dents this world bestows on us while on the journey. (Kind of like ice cream made shots from the doctor a little bit easier to deal with, when we were kids…but even better.)

But friends, that’s really not why we are here.

We are not here to make ourselves more convenienced and comfortable, as awesome as that feels.

We are not here to saturate ourselves in fun to the exclusion of remembering our greater purpose.

We are not here to rest in our roles and make ourselves feel better by doing the occasional “good thing” for others.

We are here to make a difference in our circle of influence for God. We are here to do what pleases Him, shouts His fame, and impacts someone’s eternity. We are here to serve as He served, and give people a reason to see life with Him as better than life without Him. We are here to be used by Him for His purpose and His glory – alone. It is an exciting privilege.

It is also a beautiful one.

But the beauty of the temporary doesn’t end there.

Because temporary also means that the aches and pains we feel…the cancer that touches our lives…the difficulties…won’t last forever. (This one's for you, Kris.)

It means that the hurt we experience when someone doesn’t want us around anymore will also leave.

It means that the challenges…the uphill battles…the scramble to make it…the injustices…the negativity of life…will one day be gone.

And it means that our loves…our losses…our beautiful days and our sad ones…our great choices and our really poor decisions…won’t mark our lives permanently.

Because…well…it’s temporary, ya’ll.

So long after my tattoo fades…long after my book writing career is over and my beautiful roles in life change…even when my circle of influence gets smaller and the numbers on the calendar get higher…

I have something sweetly permanent to look forward to.