Efforts

When one has committed time, energy, and passion to an end, it should last a long time, if not forever.  One knows things are never eternal.  Yet it doesn’t seem unreasonable to have the castles of our sweat and blood last for a period of time, hopefully in some cases generations.  Ironically some things do last, though rarely as we expect or predict. 
 
I recently discovered evidence of some work I did in New York, fourteen years ago!  To say I was stunned is more than an understatement.  I had no idea the work of that time would still be around, nor am I quite sure why.  It wasn’t my best, it didn’t take much sweat and clearly no tears, yet here is was.  People were using it, thought it was reasonable, and could see no reason to get anything more current.  In contrast, some works of the heart filled with truth have been torn apart even before their birth was complete. 
 
I find myself on a bright sunny morning reflecting on the days ahead.  There are important meetings in New York, relationships I long to be a part of in California, and friends I miss from London through India and Australia.  What will come of my efforts?  Is everything caught is the casual choices of time? 
 
History reminds me of how individual efforts will never last.  Someone will always come and tear them down.  “They [the enemy] massacre the young, wantonly kick and kill even babies.  And Babylon, most glorious of all kingdoms, the pride and joy of Chaldeans, will end up smoking and stinking like Sodom, and, yes, like Gomorrah, when God had finished with them.” (Isaiah 13.18, 19) 
 
With the promise of a new spring day, I know it isn’t the results that matter or how long they last.  It is all about “why” you and I pursue life.  Compassion, mercy, and love are motivations which last forever – worthy of gods.  We can be part of something grand, knowing the results will be etched forever in the lives of the people we touch.