What is UNSEEN is eternal

Keyword unseen (adj): not able to be seen; imperceptible 

So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 CSB

Books are one of my absolute favorite things. I love to read all kinds, but if I could only choose one genre, it would definitely be children’s picture books. An engaging story with brilliant artwork can inspire me forever. Visual art is not my strength (I’m not kidding when I say that my kindergarten students draw better than I do), so I’m especially impressed by illustrators who can capture the essence of the text and make it come alive.

When I’m reading a mystery or a memoir, I tend to have a hard time. No matter how skillfully the written words describe the setting and characters, I’m sure the pictures I make in my mind aren’t even close to what the author envisioned. Maybe that doesn’t really matter, but I still wish for pictures in novels to help the artistically challenged like me.

Many of us–regardless of our artistic abilities–are visual learners.

We need demonstrations, photos, or drawings to help us understand things better. Things make more sense to us when we experience them through our eyes.

Maybe that is why some of the ways that God works in our lives are hard to figure out. Like a complicated book or presentation without illustrations, we just don’t see it:

What is he doing?

How is he working?

What is the purpose of this struggle?

Why? Why? Why?

So many chapters of our lives require us to remember this promise:

What is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.

Paul said this when he was being imprisoned, rejected, and beaten. What was visible to him and to the new believers was painful and discouraging. But Paul knew that God was up to so much more than he could see.

And he wanted us to know that the same God who was working behind the scenes in Paul’s life would be working behind the scenes in ours someday.

We may or may not see the healing that happens when we pray for someone to get better.

We rarely get to see the angels he surrounds us with for protection.

We sometimes get to see the growth or the fruit we work and hope for–but not always.

We occasionally see some good that comes out of a tragedy, but most of the time we are left wondering why he allowed it to happen.

The things we see and the things we imagine don’t always tell the whole story.

How amazing it is that the Author of Life is our Father, our friend, our helper and our Savior. We can hold onto his words when life is hard to understand:

His love never fails.

He is with us forever.

He is always good.

Someday we will get to know the whole story. When we sit with him in heaven, he will tell us and show us how he worked all things together into a masterpiece of beauty, restoration, wholeness, and love.

Let’s trust the one behind the scenes.

Dear Jesus, you are the beginning and the end of everything. Please help me to trust that you are always faithful and working for good. Thank you for writing such beautiful stories with our lives. Amen.