Ephemeral

Anemone

When my brother-in-law took me on a photography expedition to shoot certain spring wildflowers, he referred to them as "ephemerals," plants that live only for a short time and then are gone.

Dutchman's Breeches

I know a woman who is 100 years old, but when she dies, her life will have seemed ephemeral in light of eternity. The ancient psalmist David said "Surely every man at his best state is but vapor." A breath, a mist, a thing that vanishes.

Bloodroot

When I am in emotional or physical pain, the minutes seem at war with each other, each one unwilling to give way to the next. And yet that is truly ephemeral. It will not last. There may be a season of pain, but "After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who brought you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."  All trials are ultimately a vanishing mist. They cannot obscure God's grace.  Indeed, they are sometimes proof of it.

Wild Violet

Oh, but the best thing is that each spring, the ephemerals return. Though they were buried and gone, in due time they lift up their heads and blow a silent trumpet proclaiming the hope of resurrection, for those who have ears to hear. The ephemeral will become eternal.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians 15: 52