Seeing What Is Permanent

Seeing What Is Permanent

It is nice to know that some things never change.

Old men still wear their pants too high. Grandmothers still hug kids tightly. Small towns will always seem quaint. They’ll always sell Peeps at Easter.

When you’re overwhelmed by the whirlwind of work deadlines, soccer carpools, and endless laundry, it’s nice to remember that there is a permanence to life, a foundation to hold on to when life’s slipping from your grasp.

But here’s the thing: grandmas, kids, and candy only go so far, and you’ll still be left hungering for more. If this life is permanent—if this is all there is—then eventually the chaos around us will win.

If you’re willing to see with different eyes, to see a permanence beyond what is seen, you’ll discover a foundation for life that matters.

Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. —2 Corinthians 4:17–18