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| Saying Goodbye |
"It is appointed to man once to die."
The subject about saying "good-bye" has been twirling around in my head lately. I have lost some good friends; two of them younger than me. While I know that they are better off and in heaven, I continue to wrestle with saying goodbye. It occurs to me that we were not created to say goodbye. According to the Bible, we were created to live in the garden forever; wonderful, blessed, life without end. There was never to be: bad news, bad neighbors, bad politics, grief, envy, strife, jealousy, pain, false accusations, taxes, etc. To top it off, each and every single day, at the end of the day, in the cool of the day, God Himself would drop by to visit us and listen to all that we had accomplished that day. There we were, naked before the Creator, happy, blissful, content; talking with God Himself. At the end of the day, He would simply say, see you tomorrow, same time, same place, and there you share your continuing saga. Wow!
Along comes "the tempter" to question our contentedness. “Are you sure you’re happy; absolutely sure?" How do you know? Are you taking in all that life has to offer? Perhaps you’re leaving something out?” How about those two trees there in the middle of the garden? Why not taste them too?”
Oh heck NO! God told us not to taste of them. “Are you sure?” Of course we’re sure. We heard it with our own ears. “What else did He say?” He said that the day we tasted of them we would surely die. “You won't surely die? Besides, what is death anyway? Perhaps God doesn’t want you to taste them because He knows that once you do, all that you have right now will appear as nothing compared to becoming like God Himself. If you think you have it good now, go ahead and take a bite of one of those babies.”
Next thing you know, the first goodbye on earth is recorded. Goodbye nakedness. Goodbye garden. Goodbye working because we want to and hello to earning a living by the sweat of our brow. Goodbye to talking with God Himself at the evening barbecue by the lake with all the animals happily chatting as they walk by. Now it's eat them before they eat you.
Goodbye Able, my dear, dear son. Goodbye Cain, where have you gone? Good bye smooth skin and hello wrinkles. Good bye Eve, my dearly beloved bride. Good by my childhood. Good bye my faithful pet. Good bye my honorable friend. Oh how it hurts to say good bye.
But nowhere near as much as it hurt God to say good bye to His Son. "Good bye my dearly beloved Son, good bye. God hates goodbyes, especially those eternal goodbyes. He says in scripture; “precious in the site of the Lord are the death of His saints.” This used to really bug me. But now I understand that while God hates goodbyes, He loves hellos. Hello my dear child. I have been waiting for you.
Nothing breaks the heart of God like those eternal good byes when never a new hello will be uttered. The eternal good bye is the most damning of all and no one will fill the true heartfelt hurt of that permanant good bye like the Creator Himself.
The pain we feel when we say good bye here for that last time to our loved one parting is God sharing His heart with us. Good bye my dear friend, my pet, my love. Oh how my heart longs to see you still.
So I encourage you to say hello. Hello life. Hello love. Hello my dear, dear friend. Hello today. Hello this fresh breath I breathe. Hello until I must go, and then I say good bye for now. But hello when we shall meet again.
Hello, hello, hello, hello before I say goodbye!
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Posted by Imhere on 2008-06-17 13:52:35 | Rating: | Views: 151
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