This update comes post ‘stay-cation’ for me.  We had 2 weeks of family with us and let me say what a fabulous time that was!  No kidding!  I hadn’t seen Alyssa and Matt since their wedding day almost 10 months before and all the superfluous adjectives for fantastic fall short of how great it was to see them and spend the quickest 10 days of the year with them.  It was pretty cool to see them both with wedding bands on; that was new for me.  The kibitzing, conversations, games, sun-stretches, walks to the beach, meals, stories, cinnamon buns, hugs, Father’s Day, being at church together, geo-caching, on top of all the cool things we were able to see and do because of the Naval Centennial still bring happiness and a sense of uber-blessing.

At the same time, Tim’s mom and dad were here too.  Because of the distance between our homes, we never get to see them enough.  They always bring love and fun wherever they are, and this trip was no exception.  If you remember, they were the ones who demonstrated the right way to receive in-laws into a family.  So to say I know they love and accept me is an understatement.  That means that all round there is the perfect ground for a fantastic time together that is always over too soon.

I suppose it may be different for others, but it’s a weird time for me as loved ones leave again.  I know its coming; nothing in life is forever. I want to be a sponge when everyone is here, soaking up the memories and moments together to enjoy afterwards.  I’m not precisely sad, although admittedly there is an element of loss.  I wouldn’t want to change the fact that they’re going – they each have a life, friends, experiences, ones they love and home somewhere else.  Yet there is a stretching or thinning somehow that leaves me emotionally depleted.

My Heavenly Father was very kind to my heart by showing me a tender truth from His word before everyone left.  In Mark chapter 8 verse 13 it says, “Then [Jesus] left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.”  A fairly non-descript sentence in the grand scheme of the whole story of Jesus.  Yet the word used when it says “he left them,” expresses a tender truth which was good for my heart as I knew people would be leaving - too soon.  It means to go away; of an evanescent state of things.  I didn’t know what evanescent meant although for some reason it made me think of soda pop.  I looked up the definition to discover its synonyms include vanishing, fleeting, ephemeral, momentary, fading away.  Not unlike the effervescence of soda pop…

On earth, Jesus left places and people; the moments were fleeting, momentary and eventually vanished.  That is the nature of life.  All of time is like that, which is probably why relationships are so crucial.  The physical moments will vanish but the depth of relationship or lack thereof continues.

So when Tim and I were driving away from the airport I noticed that this was the nature of life; I was very aware of moments vanishing and fleeting away (or in this case flying away).  That’s how life is.  Evanescent.

What abrupt contrast with God’s word to us when He says, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  The Amplified version is pretty crazy: “For He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” There’s nothing evanescent about that now is there?

So, a week after everyone has left, my heart is doing fine.  I know my Savior’s presence in every aspect of my life as certain and secure.  There’s nothing fleeting or momentary about that!  The rest of life is moving along and I’m enjoying these moments now, because I realize they are evanescent too – and even though I know differently now, it still reminds me of soda pop.

Simply Susan