Living in an Eternal Timeline

In recent months I have been thinking about how it might shift my thinking if I considered my life, and the life of others, in respect to God's eternal timeline. God is not bound by time like we are on earth. The clock drives us, the calendar works to keep us on a similar schedule, and the "rules" (laws of our land) are in place to keep us civilized (somewhat!). However 2 Peter 3:8
 says, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."

As my mind considers these thoughts I find myself pondering a couple of things. First, in God's timeline there is no such thing as a premature baby - one born before they should have been, nor does someone die "before their time". We enter this world in God's perfect time, and we don't leave a minute before or a minute after His perfect time.

So what if we considered shifting our perspective on how we see ourselves in respect to God's eternal timeline? What if we remembered we are eternal beings and our time on earth, however long or short it might be, is only a portion of our time when measured against eternity?

I'm not saying we shouldn't mourn or grieve the loss of those we love and care about. Nor am I saying we should distance ourselves from others and harden our hearts so we don't "feel" the deep loss around having someone die. What I am saying is perhaps we need to shift our thinking into an eternal perspective around the death of someone and realize this didn't catch God off guard, nor is it the final moment in their life (because we are eternal beings), and just because it doesn't make sense to us doesn't mean God isn't in control.

God is God and I am not! God is an eternal being and the question we need to answer for ourselves, as well as those around us, is this, "Where do I want to spend my eternity?" Perhaps this is a question which needs to brew in our hearts to adjust our comfortable and perhaps even complacent hearts into a place of urgency or longing to share our desires for those around us to spend their eternity in heaven with us.

Ps. 39:4-7 says, "LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath. We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you."

Jo-Ann