Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Begin With Goodbye



“The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye.”  ~ Jimi Hendrix


That poem written by Jimi Hendrix resonates with me.  These days life rushes past me faster than I can blink, much less intentionally wink at someone.  Only five years ago, Tim and I returned to Washington, DC, our eighth move in 30 years of marriage, and now we must say goodbye.  You would thnk that we’d be old hands at farewells, but it doesn’t get any easier with practice.

Last night we had one final dinner with four couples who have been our close friends during this second posting to Washington.  The Barneys, the Hettlers, the Stoudingers, the Wesolowskis and we met at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and bonded during weekly Bible studies.  We shared life events that included weddings, newborn grandchildren, retirements and the passing of parents.  In short, we’ve lived life together.

Now Tim and I are poised to begin a new venture, one that will find us moving from one Habitat for Humanity construction site to the next over the course of the next five years.  So we begin this blog with goodbyes.

Meagan, one of the young moms in our community, befriended me on Facebook this past weekend.  I replied that I was honored to become her 1,092nd FB friend and that I looked forward to watching her children grow via the photos she will post on her page.  But it won’t be the same as holding Baby Jack in my arms.

At the end of Sunday’s worship service, Scott Seaton, our pastor, called Tim and I to the front of the congregation for the benediction.  Because this church sees so many of its military, political and foreign service members rotate in and out of DC, Scott likens the departure of a member to the commissioning of a missionary. 

While Scott blessed the congregation with the well-loved verses from the 26th chapter of Numbers, I reflected that there is no such word as goodbye among Christians for the Lord gives us His assurance that one day we will stand in His Presence.  But in the meantime--

“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”  

And all God’s people said, "Amen."


6 comments:

  1. God bless you both as you seek his plan and will in service to others! We will miss you terribly yet look forward to keeping up with you through your blog. Safe travels and good health follow you both. Love, Yasmin and Ralph Thomas

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    1. Thanks, Yas! I wish we could have gotten together one last time before we left, but maybe our paths will cross at some future date. Love you, too!

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  2. I look forward to reading about your adventures. "May the Lord bless you and keep you" as you travel and serve! I hope your travels bring you to Stafford on occasion.

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  3. Stafford will be our home base while we figure out the next steps. I'll look forward to seeing you in just a few weeks!

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  4. Cindy, I am beginning at the beginning! Well, I actually just read the coffee shop post and I want to read them all!

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  5. Thanks, Patty, for reading these! I hope to see you early next year when we are in Florida. We are signed up to help with builds in Ft. Myers and in Sebring. I'll message you when we arrive. It would be great to see you!

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