Separation

Today was a wonderful day with friends and family. Our mothers decided to throw us a BBQ/Baby shower for everyone to get to see us again and meet the baby before we head off again for two years. It was great to see so many people and feel so loved, even by so many we'd never even met.

However, in less than one week we head off from Oregon and it also suddenly hit me that for many of these people it is the last time we will see them for a long time. This didn't used to bother me much, but suddenly, two years, or even six months, is so much longer when I look at all the changes that will happen in my daughter's life during that time. It breaks my heart to realize everything our parents will miss. Just thinking about it makes me cry, and let's not even talk about saying good-bye to my sister last week in Texas.

I read in a book one time that everything that we experience on earth is to help us understand the Father more clearly. For instance, anger isn't sin when aimed at the right target, and we can better understand how God feels when people go against his will. Tonight I thought about the great depth of sadness he must feel to be separated from his children. He has asked us to take a path far away from our families and it hurts. At times it hurts more than I think I can bear. But how much more he must feel this sadness when separated for eternity from the ones He loves so dearly.