Author: Holly Hawes

Have you ever lived somewhere that you knew would be temporary? The 3-month or yearlong in-between place?

It’s interesting, when I know  a place is going to be temporary, I just kind of find myself in angst the entire time. No reason to put things on the walls. I might leave half of the boxes in the corner, only foraging  through them when I happen to need a glue stick for the first time in 6 months, and while doing so, I might just happen to find sandals I totally forgot I had.

Our little family has been in a temporary house for almost 5 months now.  Due to a kitchen fire that looked really minor but caused enough damage that the kitchen, living room and dining room had to be completely gutted. Only things that were sentimental were saved, and we are still in the process of replacing stuff. God has been so good to us in this process. He provided for us through rental insurance (best thing I’ve ever bought in my LIFE!), through friends who graciously let us stay with them and people who invited us to eat with them in the middle of getting everything settled down.

We see some great things in this temporary place, BUT it is still temporary.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how for Christians  this is how we should be seeing this world and this life. We should see it as a very short and temporary place in the light of eternity with God. I can’t even choose which verse to point out because there are SO MANY about this. I might need to do a word study on eternity and the eternal, because there is so much in the Bible reminding us to be thinking about that rather than the here and now.  Yet, what I usually do is think about now and how to make my life better short term. Looking for my best life now.

I think I’ve been missing the point:

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:1-3
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

I really don’t know how to do this. When we’re making decisions as a family, how do we think about what is better in the really long term rather than what makes us most comfortable? When things are just hard in life, how do we not let depression take over and see that this is a short season in light of forever?

2Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Today I have a choice.  I can focus my time and energy on the things that feel so important, but are short in the light of forever;  or I can keep my eyes on the fact that this life is not all there is.  I find great hope whenever my mind stays on the eternal.  Hope when I’m suffering and want it to end. Hope when Life is full of joy. But, my heart is still full of yearning for what is yet to come.

We’re just passing through.
Enjoy today, (or just get through today) knowing that it is a season and not the ultimate goal.
Seek what is above.

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Holly is a wife, mother of one, and foster mother to many. She seeks to glorify God in all she does, for all her life. She studied Intercultural Studies at Corban University and loves to build bridges between cultures and people. She welcomes people into her life, into her heart, and into her home with hopes of offering encouragement. You can find more from Holly here at Anchored Voices or at her blog Called to Restore.