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Numbers.

I have never been a fan of numbers.

Not a fan in any form; adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing. Just not interested in the world of numbers.

Until.

Until I recently began to really ponder on eternity.

Eternity. Forever.

Eternity. Our final resting place.

Do we really grasp what God means when John writes in I John 2:25 (ESV),

And this is the promise that He made to us – eternal life.

It is often hard for humans to wrap our minds around forever. We live most days, believing there will always be a tomorrow. Believing that next year will arrive right on time. January 1. A new year. Tearing the pages off the calendar month after month. Plans and schedules written in the daily squares without a doubt that the event will arrive right on time.

I know because I used to be one of those planners. Planning for the next year. And the year after that. I always included God in those thoughts and plans; just always trusted they would go exactly as “I” had planned.

And then.

Then, my world turned upside down. God called my husband home to His eternal resting place. And life as I knew it changed in a split second.

Not long after my husband’s passing I heard the statement, “Reunion is a mere splinter of an eternal moment away.” I really like that. A mere splinter of time….that sounds so quick, doesn’t it?

That statement has made me put time in perspective. It’s human nature to mark time in terms of years. A year sounds like such a long time. But when we break it down to 365 days or even 52 weeks, it just doesn’t sound as long.

I was thinking about that in terms of my time with my husband. We were married for twenty-six years and five months. That sounds like such a long time; and many would say how wonderful for us to have been married for that long. But, let’s talk days. 9,653 days sounds shorter. I must say, I like thinking in terms of days. Privileged to have shared them with the love of my life and my best friend.

God has the last word on living and dying. I will see my beloved husband again. Soon.

Behold, You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!”
Psalm 39:5 (ESV)

Each person’s life is but a breath – a vapor compared to eternity. That promise was solidified at the cross. Accepting Christ and the sacrifice He made, gives me assurance I will see my husband. The grief and the suffering helps us let go of this earth. I am not the same person I was forty-eight months ago, having grown in ways I could never imagine. I have a new spring in my soul, and I know a peace that comes from the resting arms of the God of all comfort.

These words comfort me.

They do not replace the sadness I feel, but they do comfort me. Knowing time on earth is but a vapor compared to our time in heaven is a great comfort. My fellow sisters, we can look at this time on earth as but a blink.

Reunion with our loved ones is a mere splinter of an eternal moment away.

Heavenly Father, thank You for salvation through the precious blood of Jesus. It gives us such comfort as we miss our precious husbands, knowing that we will be reunited in glory. I pray for each of these ladies that are in grief. May we all keep our eyes focused on eternity, not the swiftness of this life on earth. Amen and Amen.