My dad used to say, “You know what the good book says, ‘Life is but the twinkling of an eye.'”

Until I was in Bible college, I was one hundred percent sure that this was precisely what the Bible recorded. Then I tried to find the verse. This is what I saw,

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – (52) in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – NIV 2011)

The passage is about how quickly we will be transformed when Jesus returns. And it is not about the span of our life. 

I can only guess that my father heard a sermon that used this verse somewhere. That preacher took “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye” to reference this life. Once we become a Christian, this life flies by until we meet Jesus in heaven. It is not a good interpretation of the actual verse, but it still holds truth because this life does fly fast.

That one line I probably heard him say about a thousand times in my lifetime, that was until his flash was over. The eye twinkled, and he was gone. But I must admit that one phrase is one of the most memorable things he said. In my mind, I can never remember him being sad when he said it. It was always a matter-of-fact statement with an undertone of hope. He was always saying it like, “This life is over fast, but eternity awaits.” Perhaps he knew that the passage in the Corinthian letter is very hope-filled. The following lines speak of our immortal bodies and death being defeated.

Everyone knows this life is short, and you can use whatever phrase you desire to capture that truth. Christians look at that fact with hope and not with despair. I know my dad did, and I hope you do too.