Of (Fleeting) Time and Place

I'm currently working at painting and preparing a vacant bedroomas a spare bedroom (aka grandchildren's sleepover room😊😉💓) Two coats of primer later, Matt's old room colour, the colour of a basketball, is simply a memory!painted during the boyhood basketball phase of his life; a phase long overtaken by more pressing matters, (like mortgages,😅)Proof of the fleeting POOF!! of stages and ages, interests and passions! Reminding us to build on the eternal rather than the temporal because... ...the things which are seen are temporary,  the things which are not seen are eternal.2 Cor.4:18 I finished listening to this book yesterday as I painted... The book is filled with profound thoughts and experiences but the one below, near the end of the bookmade me put down my brush and jot it down!Starkly relevant for the age we are in...(When, after gaining access to a country through great effort and pains, he (Brother Andrew) proceeded to hand out Bibles, but no one seemed interested)And he was struck with this revelation-'Persecution was an enemy the church had met and mastered many times.Indifference could prove to be a far more dangerous foe!' ** Pray, we do not slip into indifference, but live, deeply aware that we are all on a very impending verge... of  eternity *** Jude 1:3-4Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints. For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. ***  The blessings we enjoyThe heartaches we endureGrievances that annoyDreams loosed from the mind’s moor The ups and downs we faceThe fights twixt faith and fearAre all hallmarks of time and placeAnd temporary, dear Love’s holy exerciseOf hold-and-letting-goOf glad hellos and hard goodbyesOf retrospect’s slideshow Of choice, for better-worseAnd not all it appearsOf consequence we bless or curseWith laughter or with tears Pleasure’s brief blitz of blissSuffering’s griefs and painsAll pass way; the genesisTo all that yet remains Of everlasting gainOr everlasting lossThese moments in the sun and rainAre but bridges we cross That lead away from ThisBrief encounter with graceWhere soul alone transcends What IsOf fleeting Time and Place The fool rejects this truthThe wise take heed and prayBecause death is the living proofOf this world’s little stay Then, while we can, prepareTo meet Thy God, beforeWe step from time’s fleet thoroughfareInto Forevermore © Janet Martin