I think that one of the most challenging aspects of living a life of faith is the realization that everything in this earthly life we know is so … ethereal.

Circumstances can change in the time that it takes for an eyelash to drop to the ground, and that is a very disconcerting thought for most of us. This precariousness is jarring and reminds us that truly we walk through this life trusting in things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)

I was reminded this week by a devotion I read that all we are certain of in this world is only temporary, and that our fortunes can literally change with the dawning of a new day. The rub, of course, is that those changes can either bring us great joy … or tremendous sorrow.

These words from Barbara Brown Taylor spoke to me: “… The things that seem to be going most wrong for you may in fact be the things that are going most right.” But, oy, that takes some strong faith, doesn’t it. Because how can one ever know that to be true … until you get to the other side of the storm?

I think it is exactly this uncertainty that vexes so many and makes them question what a spiritual faith means. After all, if life is uncertain, if we can’t count on what tomorrow will bring, then what good is this faith thing anyway?

And I do seriously get that. The past handful of years has presented enough moments that have brought me to my knees that when new storms arise, I wonder when does … it … end? Seriously, God? When?

But, the flipside is that I’ve also lived through so many of them that I am comforted by this scripture: “For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.” (James 1:11)

It’s a passage that reminds us that the most important underlying point of life is that it is finite, and that most joy, but also most sorrow, is a temporary circumstance. And it’s our faith that helps us mitigate the highs and lows so that in between we have some kind of bedrock to cling to.

Trust me, I’m no Pollyanna. Sometimes the stuff of this earthly life feels like a sock in the solar plexus. But I also have lived enough to know that sometimes, just when you feel you’re swimming in the darkest pool of grief, a life preserver is tossed out of nowhere.

And then we are reminded that all of this life is temporary, which can unmoor us … or bring relief that even the darkest events are only temporary. Amen.

Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.