The second Bible verse (see here for my discussion of the three verses and here for the first verse) I try to say each morning has been with me a long time, probably twenty years. I’ve used it in my e-mail signature at least since 2005. I think I first took note of it in 1993-94, when coaching our church’s teen Bible quizzing team. It is 2nd Corinthians 4:17.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all.

I more or less remember the day I found this verse. It hit me hard. Whatever our troubles are on this earth—and they might be many—they are nothing in relationship to heaven. Persevering through earthly troubles will result in heavenly glory for us.

At some point I began saying this every morning. That is, except when I got up and forgot, which happens occasionally. I know that the day will have troubles. That’s a sign that I’m living, interacting with people. Quoting it helps me to keep those troubles in perspective.

However, recently I realized I wasn’t getting the full benefit of this verse. Sure, seeing my troubles in an eternal perspective was important, and beneficial, but the verse says something more. Those troubles are supposed to be achieving for me an eternal glory that’s much greater than the troubles. But were they?

I had a couple of incidents of troubles this week, and they almost slipped by without my realizing the full benefit of them. On Monday, after many false starts and delays, I loaded up the van with remnants of the garage sale we had over a year ago to take them to a thrift store. We decided that this load would go to the Salvation Army donation center about 20 miles from our house. We have a closer thrift store where we normally take donations, but decided this time to help out the Salvation Army.

A couple of months ago I had called them and learned their donation hours were 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. I had the load ready around 1:30, thus figuring I was safe. But to be sure, I called the donation center. Alas, their phone was busy. Busy on the first call, the second call, the third call. For 15 minutes their line was busy. I should have just got in the van and made the trip. Finally, they answered the phone, and I learned that their closing time had changed to 2:30 p.m. It was about 10 minutes to 2 p.m., and I had 20 miles to drive.

What to do? Knowing I had a busy day planned for Tuesday, I quickly hopped in the van and left. The recently opened Bella Vista bypass allowed for quick travel, and I reached the mall they were in (I’d not been to S.A. since they moved to this declining mall). I drove around it and no Salvation Army. I called, knowing I hadn’t been able to reach them easily earlier. But they answered right away, told me where they were in relation to the mall building and said drive around back. Although, the woman answering said “go past the mall….” I asked her east-bound or west-bound, but she didn’t know her east from west. A follow-up question gave me what I needed.

I got to the back at 2:22 pm, and the door was closed, the sign in place saying they were closed for donations. I knocked and no one came. I pulled the door open and no one was in sight. I called out and no one answered. I was hot. I drove around to the front and went in, ready to give them a piece of my mind. They assured me they were open for donations, to drive around the back again, and they would meet me. I got back in the van, still hot, when my verse came to mind. I was reminded that this trouble was, in fact, light and momentary.

But was it achieving me an eternal glory that outweighed the trouble? Not the way I was going. I had to change my attitude. I realized the worst that could happen was I might have missed delivering to this store and would have to drive to the other. The cost would have been just 10 miles of extra driving—not an inconsiderable cost these days. I got around the back. Three workers met me and they made short work unloading my full van while we had pleasant conversation. It was 2:30 p.m.

The other trouble came on Tuesday. After breakfast, when I was going to start my writing day, I remembered I really needed to prepare the income tax form for our partnership. Partnership tax returns are due March 15. Oh, such a problem.

All the information needed to complete the partnership taxes was on spreadsheets. I opened these. One was the business records, the other was the tax computations. But, the two spreadsheets didn’t quite match. I had some manipulation to do before I could dump the business records into the tax spreadsheet. Is this making sense?

Alas, I had much trouble with it. I had two spreadsheets open, and two worksheets in one spreadsheet. I kept making changes to the wrong file, or the wrong tab in the file, and had to un-do a lot and start over. I couldn’t remember how I did it last year. Finally, in frustration I left The Dungeon, went upstairs and got another cup of coffee. I had wasted over an hour.

As I sipped coffee back in The Dungeon, I realized that this trouble was light and momentary. But, my frustration and anger wasn’t achieving for me an eternal glory that outweighed the trouble. That would only happen if I calmed down, figured out how to do this a step at a time. It meant I would have to give up completely my morning writing session, which would put me behind my week’s writing goal. “If that’s what it takes,” I decided. Two hours later, and the problem was solved. The tax spreadsheet had all the information from the business accounting spreadsheet. Filling out the actual tax forms would be a two-hour task on Wednesday, and the deadline would be met.

Light and momentary troubles. I’ve recognized that for close to 30 years. But I haven’t always achieved the eternal glory part. This week, I think I took a couple of steps in the right direction.