Temporary

Wouldn't sprinting in a long distance race be a poor strategy? I often assume temporary means, well, a few years, a few months, but not a lifetime. I was thinking of the word temporal and its meaning, pertaining to life, and what if--and not always of course--temporary suffering, means a lifetime of suffering? Granted there will always be suffering at some level, and there are type of suffering that are short lived, but that's not so much what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the painful seasons of life that seem to endlessly lay forth. Struggles that may possibly be with you lifelong. Pain is temporary but the fruit is long-lasting. Will it take a temporal lifetime of pain for an eternity of fruit? I think realistically yes.  Don't get me wrong, I totally believe we will and do see much fruit in this life. I'm not saying things are all bleak or there is no joy or hope or life or that God withholds good things from us for only the sake of suffering. I don't think it's so black and white--no, I'm not always black and white--but I don't think I will ever reach some magic place where I am done growing. And well duh, it takes pain to plow the way for growth. Growth is painful, and I sometimes don't want to do it. Pain is good...um yeah. Ok it is, if it is the pain that produces growth, but ugh, it hurts! There is always some new level of growth, I don't want to stay stagnant, stuck where I am. I just didn't know it would be so hard, did you? In a strange way though, knowing that life is seasons of growth, takes the pressure off of believing I have to reach some magic place where everything is perfect and pain free. It's ok, at whatever speed, guiltless and fearless, growth, it's good.  Life hurts, life is hard, life has joy, life is rewarding, life is complicated. Relationships are precious and growth is treasure. I want to learn how to run the distance, not sprint and hit a wall of discouragement--though of course it happens--I don't want to give up. I often feel like it. It won't always be like this, it's just temporary.