I was able to snap this photo standing on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. It was spring break my senior year at Moody Bible Institute. Because I had decided that fall (yikes!) that I no longer wanted to pursue elementary education and therefore no longer needed to do student teaching in the spring, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Israel with a group of classmates and some of Moody’s best Bible and Theology professors. (Isn’t it amazing how God works through difficult times in our lives for our good?)
In the foreground of the photo are Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives and the view is of the Golden Gate in the Eastern wall and Jerusalem beyond. This is the gate through which Jesus would have entered the city on “Palm Sunday,” on his way to the Temple from the Mount of Olives. It is also where many Christians believe he will re-enter the city upon his return at his second coming (based on prophecies in Ezekiel). So, this photo seems especially fitting for my theme verse, Isaiah 40:8. The flowers in front of the graves are a striking visual to me for the fact that we all perish like the grass of the field. Looking past this to the Golden Gate reminds me that Jesus will return to judge and to rule and to make all things new (Rev. 21:5). He is the eternal Word of God and all that matters. This world is not our home and this life is but a breath. Unless it is spent in pursuit of and submission to our Creator, it is wasted.
My life is like a fading flower and so I stand firmly on the truth of the eternal Word of God.