“What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) This verse keeps reappearing in my daily reading. I’ve probably even blogged about it before.

Over the past months, I think we have all learned a thing or two about the unseen parts of our lives. Most things closed down or were available at a reduced capacity, and people went into their homes and stayed there. We learned more about our families, more about what we do with actual free time, more about finding creative solutions for necessary work, more about loneliness and more about what motivates our daily lives. And it went largely unseen. But it all mattered.

What has been “seen” recently has been difficult to watch. In the States, we have seen political ugliness and brutal racism and protests turned to riots and pandemic outbreaks and closed borders and economic devastation and petty social media disputes. But we hold to the promise that what is seen is temporary.

I am just coming out of two weeks of keeping myself as quarantined as possible since arriving back in Haiti. I am beyond excited to visit the elders and reconnect with friends. It is wonderful to be back in the communities where I feel the Lord has called me to serve.

There is inexplicable joy as people I never expected to love so deeply great me as “Manman Kah-tee!” in the street. And there are medical emergencies and meetings with pastors and playing with kids and new vocabulary to learn and never ending laundry and never ending emails and transportation issues and security concerns and all the random things that make up my days. There is sorrow and frustration and beauty as I adapt back to life here.

In Haiti, we are seeing repeated fuel shortages, devaluation of money and increases in prices, gang activity, and political and economic insecurity, alongside misunderstandings and fears attached to the spread of COVID19. But those things are seen. Those things are temporary.

What is unseen is eternal. Whispered prayers, neighborly kindness, faithful perseverance, shared hope and sacrificial love; these patiently cultivated assets are eternal. I have had the honor of glimpsing some of the unseen moments of other people’s lives in the past couple weeks.

I watched a woman this morning, from the comfort of the inside of our tap tap, wading in up past her knees through water, garbage, and sewage. She carefully balanced a heavy plastic bag, likely filled with drinking water pouches to sell, on her head as she navigated the flooded streets. There was determination and resilience in her cautious steps, and I realized I was probably witnessing one of the unseen moments of her life. Because many times, it’s our struggles that go unseen. For her. For me. For all of us.

So don’t belittle the struggles you are in. Use unseen moments as powerful offerings of worship. Choose forgiveness. Encourage others. And succeed or fail, remember that unseen moments matter.