Eternity is an idea that is instilled in us, being the possessors of eternal souls, but we strive to reach this goal that is utterly unattainable for our human bodies. People are always trying to make things last "forever:" especially love. I believe that love has an eternal-ness to it, because we are commanded to make it so, but that doesn't mean we walk right into an everlasting love with someone and then have an easy road to making that love work. (This seems like a fairly logical concept, I suppose, but many people believe that finding one's "soul mate" is the end, in and of itself.)
As humans, we have the concept of eternity within the fiber of our beings, just like we have the sense of God and the proclivity for sin. When we are left without understanding what that eternal quality means--that we will go on living, in some capacity, forever--we, as an imperfect human race, look for the manifestation of that "foreverness" in all the wrong places. Nothing lasts forever, though, so people are constantly just a little bit disappointed by the way that things end up, or really, don't end up. But why? Everything doesn't have to last forever. New things are good too... And when things are going to last "forever," it has be to a conscious effort. It isn't just a "hey, this looks fun, let's see how long we can ride this without doing any work." Unfortunately far too many people see life this way. I plead guilty to such misconceptions, at times, but I've returned to my youthful wisdom. (Note: How is it that one can know, fully realize, that a thing is the way it is, yet somehow slide into a state of oblivious disregard for an extended period of time? Probably yet another indication of imperfect humanity...)
So what lasts, then? The love of God, His mercy and grace, His justice, His forgiveness, His promises, His Word...these things are eternal. These things are unseen though, so we feebly forget to acknowledge their eternity in our strange, material sphere of existence. So what then? Anything in the physical world, anything that we can see and touch and verify? Eternity has stopped meaning what it is supposed to mean because we cannot even verify time beyond our own lives, and generations who pass information down to each other can be faulty and inaccurate. So, the concepts that we apply to eternity are love and hate. Hate can be passed through generations, again often inaccurately. And love, another complicated idea, is applied delicately to the idea of forever, longer than time, longer than an infinite number of lives. How does anyone think this could possibly work for human beings? Fickle, changing, disappointing, sinful, unfaithful humans, succeeding in making love, the most beautiful thing in the world, last forever? Unlikely...
That's why we don't do it alone, but by the help of God. However, everyone has to be on the same page, or else it will never, ever work.
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
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