I suck at good-byes. I admit it. To be honest, I don't even know how to spell it. Is it all one word? Or is it hyphenated? Or are good and bye two completely separate words? Maybe I should just avoid the word completely...since I seem to avoid the whole concept of them anyways.
This might seem like a slightly random topic, but it is something I have been thinking about quite a bit recently. In the last week, I have finished up at camp, attended two funerals, hugged my sister goodbye as she leaves for college, and am now packing up to leave Calgary and move back to my parents' house. Most of the goodbyes I have said have not been permanent ones - I know that I will probably seem them again in the next couple months, but it is a reminder that soon I will be saying goodbye for at least two years. And I can't exactly avoid all of them.
I wish that I could. I wish that I could just leave without saying good-bye to anyone. However, I know my parents would not be very impressed. They would probably refuse to take me to the airport and leave me stranded in Grassy Lake for the rest of my life...ok, maybe nothing that extreme, but I do know that I can't avoid them forever.
And sometimes you're forced to say good-bye when you're least expecting it. And I can't help asking God why we have to say good-bye. I know that when we're saying good-bye, it's never forever...if we don't see our loved ones on earth again, we'll hopefully see them in heaven one day. But that doesn't make it any easier.
I used to think that I handled good-byes quite well. Just a smile, a quick hug (if you're lucky enough to be one of the few people I let into my bubble), and a short "adios". And now I'm realizing that maybe it's okay to have longer good-byes, show some emotion, and that it's normal to feel some sense of loss.
But even though there's loss, there's always something to look forward to as well. As I say goodbye to people here in Canada, I look ahead to South Africa and the people I will be working with there. As I say goodbye to the prairies (yes, I will secretly miss the brown flatness of Alberta), I look forward to the ocean near Durban. As I say goodbye to my work at camp, I look forward to my new "job" as a missionary. And I can't help but think of Ecclesiastes 3:
God does it so that men will revere him. One of the ongoing lessons I am always learning is that everything is for God's glory. It's all about Him. And even if I don't understand good-byes and why we have to say them, they bring glory to God in some way. And everything that God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. It is perfectly complete.
I may not enjoy saying good-bye to people, and I probably still won't really cry and get super emotional when they happen. But I'm going to try not to avoid them either. Because there is a time for them. And there's always something else to look forward to.
This might seem like a slightly random topic, but it is something I have been thinking about quite a bit recently. In the last week, I have finished up at camp, attended two funerals, hugged my sister goodbye as she leaves for college, and am now packing up to leave Calgary and move back to my parents' house. Most of the goodbyes I have said have not been permanent ones - I know that I will probably seem them again in the next couple months, but it is a reminder that soon I will be saying goodbye for at least two years. And I can't exactly avoid all of them.
I wish that I could. I wish that I could just leave without saying good-bye to anyone. However, I know my parents would not be very impressed. They would probably refuse to take me to the airport and leave me stranded in Grassy Lake for the rest of my life...ok, maybe nothing that extreme, but I do know that I can't avoid them forever.
And sometimes you're forced to say good-bye when you're least expecting it. And I can't help asking God why we have to say good-bye. I know that when we're saying good-bye, it's never forever...if we don't see our loved ones on earth again, we'll hopefully see them in heaven one day. But that doesn't make it any easier.
I used to think that I handled good-byes quite well. Just a smile, a quick hug (if you're lucky enough to be one of the few people I let into my bubble), and a short "adios". And now I'm realizing that maybe it's okay to have longer good-byes, show some emotion, and that it's normal to feel some sense of loss.
But even though there's loss, there's always something to look forward to as well. As I say goodbye to people here in Canada, I look ahead to South Africa and the people I will be working with there. As I say goodbye to the prairies (yes, I will secretly miss the brown flatness of Alberta), I look forward to the ocean near Durban. As I say goodbye to my work at camp, I look forward to my new "job" as a missionary. And I can't help but think of Ecclesiastes 3:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
God does it so that men will revere him. One of the ongoing lessons I am always learning is that everything is for God's glory. It's all about Him. And even if I don't understand good-byes and why we have to say them, they bring glory to God in some way. And everything that God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. It is perfectly complete.
I may not enjoy saying good-bye to people, and I probably still won't really cry and get super emotional when they happen. But I'm going to try not to avoid them either. Because there is a time for them. And there's always something else to look forward to.
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