Day 17 – An Eternal Perspective

I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out what to write about. I could write a list of things I’m grateful for, but I don’t feel like that adequately expresses what I’m feeling. I think today, I am grateful for an eternal perspective.

I go through life sometimes and I am so tired, so worn out, so fed up with things, so irritated, do annoyed, so ready to give up. And sometimes I want to. I think, if I give up, then I don’t have to care about all of the things that are bothering me. But, that’s not a way out. It’s a way to ignore. It’s a way to escape.

As a human race, I think we have developed an innate ability to escape our problems. There are all kinds of escapes. There’s alcohol, drugs, shopping, running, sleeping, depression, suicide, pornography, sex, video games, television, movies and so many more. It’s whatever we do to make us forget. We subconsciously seek for things that will allow us to escape our lives momentarily. Not all of the things I listed are inherently bad. In fact, many of them are good. I’m sure I’d have a lot of athletes who would be up in arms at my suggestion that running could be an escape. But, we all do things to try and eject ourselves from a bad situation. It’s the fight or flight response.

I am grateful that when those hard times come and it feels like the whole world is crashing down, I can remember that there is so much more to look forward to. This little moment is just that. A little moment. It’ll pass. I’ll have the rest of eternity to live in peace and prosperity. When I want to run away from the hardships of my life, I remember that I can deal with it because I’m made of the stuff for eternity. So, I know that I don’t need to run. I don’t want to run for eternity. Because I know that there’s more to life than just this life, I can face my problems more directly. I can deal with them as they come. And I can be grateful when they’re over and I come out a better person.