Sometimes I Write

I hate saying goodbye. I don’t do it very well. It’s a very emotional thing for me to let somebody or something leave my life not knowing if it will ever return…Or knowing something isn’t supposed to. That’s hard stuff.

My brother Lennie has been here for a week and it has been great visiting with him. If there were anything I could do to get him to move here, I’d do it. But he’s boarding a plane back to Minnesota tonight and I’ll have to say goodbye. It’s not that I think he won’t return to CO for a visit, or that I won’t travel to see him in Minnesnowta. It’s that I love my time with him and I know from life’s experiences, sometimes there are loooooooong stretches of time between visits.

Sometimes our time is cut short unexpectedly. My dear friend Paula is holding a memorial service today for her beloved grandma. Her family is in Oklahoma holding the official funeral, but due to difficult family circumstances Paula won’t be there to join them. She and her family will remember grandma in their own way here in CO, and though her family will support her the best they can, they didn’t know grandma like Paula did – so in a way she’s mourning alone. She is saying goodbye the best way she knows how and that looks different from the way her family will be saying goodbye.

We’re also preparing to say goodbye to another phase of our life. Working with Dry Bones has been such a learning experience and time for growth and depth for us. We set out to go where God sent us despite some thinking us crazy and reckless. Oh how our faith has been tested and grown, but we’ve gotten better at listening and watching for His leading as we’ve continually followed Him to places we wouldn’t have thought of on our own. First to Indiana, then to Kansas, and back to Colorado. He’s not asking us to move again just yet, but He has redirected our focus to the Boulder area. That means saying goodbye to our time with Dry Bones as we begin a new ministry there. So as excited as I am to begin a new thing, I can’t help but mourn the old.

God is so faithful to provide the little pockets of sunshine I mentioned in my last post. My brother’s visit fits in that category. Encouraging emails from my favorite blogging friends has been another. A letter from Linda. Spending time with my worship team. Thrift shopping with my sister-in-law last Saturday. Going to see CASINO ROYALE with my brother and husband following an amazing meal at a Japanese Country Restaurant/dojo called DOMO. Reading another great book written by Susan. An online planning meeting for Camp Zenith next summer. Eating a slice of Key Lime pie as I type this. Pockets of sunshine indeed!
Thank You God!