Comfort, Comfort

Internalizing Versus Eternalizing

One might deal with life’s struggles by internalizing, which is thinking about the struggles and making them a part of one’s life. Although internalizing is often viewed as a negative because one may act out negative or harmful behaviors to himself or others, internalizing may be beneficial if one is acting out positive or good behaviors.

Rather than internalizing there may be a better, more positive and uplifting approach and that approach is eternalizing. To eternalize is to put life into an eternal perspective. An eternal perspective is to understand that life in this world is short and sweet, as the saying goes, compared to eternity which is forever.

So, if a person has had a struggle in life, he may internalize by acting out, or he may internalize by trying to make himself better, or he may realize that the struggles of this life are simply a result of the cursed world in which we live and that in the end all things will be made right.

Life is indeed like a rose garden. Roses are beautiful, yet they have painful thorns. In the beginning God created a perfect world. Humanity brought sin. Sin brought a curse. The world we live in today is an imperfect, cursed world. Yet, we have God’s promise that He is in control and even though we may not see His control, as when the righteous are punished and the unjust are rewarded, we know that in the end, justice will be meted out.

For one to internalize the struggles of life might mean rationalizing that life is unfair and thus one must do whatever needs to be done to take care of oneself. To eternalize would mean putting the struggles of life into an eternal perspective, realizing that although life on this earth may not seem fair, in the end justice will be served, thus one is encouraged to a righteous life of faithfulness, with the help of God.


Making It Personal

Recently my wife and I suffered the loss of our twenty week stillborn son. Certainly we could internalize and dwell on our cursed world in which we are considered high risk when it comes to having children. Or we could internalize believing the fallacy that there are too many people in the world already, or that we have four children and should be happy. None of these internalizing options brings comfort.

Personally, I am more interested in eternalizing the matter, knowing that although I will not see my son while I am alive in this world, certainly, by God’s grace, through the faith He has given my son as he heard God’s Word in utero every Sunday morning, I know that I will see him in heaven. His stillborn death would mean nothing except for the fact of the eternal love, grace, and justice of our great and loving God. To know that I will see him and meet him in heaven is what brings us comfort and hope, beyond any human explanation.