Last week I happened on a beautiful old church in Galesburg, Illinois; I was amazed to find such an example of Richardson Romanesque architecture there!

Ironically, I was on my way to an appointment with an eye doctor who certified me (once again) as legally blind.  There are times when I am frustrated by my vision difficulties, and this was one of those times.  I need to take quite a few photos in order to get a good one because I can’t really tell what I’m pointed at. The result is too much street and a cut off roofline or a picture of a tree instead of a person; that sort of thing.  In the case of this church, I was in the street and the light decided to change so I didn’t get a chance to snap off enough pictures to get it right… and the light and sky weren’t that great either… irritating!

A passage comes to mind for this situation:

 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For 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. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(2 Cor. 4:16-18)

The church is eternal, but the building is not, nor is the pictures I tried to take, nor is physical blindness. The same is true for all of the problems and challenges of this life; they are temporary and relatively short-lived.  Thus, we fix our eyes on the things that are not of this world, that our eternity will be filled with complete and constant joy.