goodbye...until heaven

There are few things that compare to saying goodbye, and even fewer that compare to saying goodbye to someone you don’t expect to see again… at least not here on earth.

Many goodbyes that are tearful. They often bring a heavy weight and drop it in the bottom the heart. But most goodbyes are not forever, and usually there is a human hope that helps lift the weight. It is this hope that says, “Even though the waiting may be long, we’ll meet again someday.”
But then there’s those times when there is no human hope. The times when you know the likelihood of you meeting again is very slim. I can remember a few of those times:
........

Last summer I found myself at the end of my second year at CYIA. The sun was hot and the tears were warm as we huddled in the parking lot for one last prayer and farewell. Word had it that many of the staff members would not be returning next year and this made the goodbyes more permanent...more concrete. I also knew that three of my closest friends would be entering college in the fall and probably wouldn’t return to CYIA as a student again. The family I had grown to love was being scattered like seeds across wet garden soil and the hope of everyone gathering again was fading like the wind. Most of us would probably never meet again. Never, that is, until Heaven.
........

The hour was late. The tears had rolled. And the time to say goodbye had arrived much too soon. I held her frail hand with all the gentleness and strength I could muster and looked into her wandering eyes. “Goodbye, Grandma,” I said, “I love you.” Then i turned and walked away knowing that I would probably never see her again. Never, that is, until Heaven.
........

The tile floor made the nursing home room feel impersonal to those of us who gathered on such personal business. Each of us carried a connection to the last name Smith, and this was the room of one of the eight Smith brothers we all knew and loved. It was an unplanned, mini, family reunion, but it wasn’t a joyous one. We came because the doctor had said a few simple words- “You have cancer.” So we talked some, we laughed some, and we cried some, and then it was time to say goodbye. I shook his hand and hugged his broad, grandfather-like shoulders. I took one more look at the face that is most like the smith brother I never met- my grandpa. And I remembered that we would probably never meet again. Never, that is, until heaven.

........

As i said, there is a heaviness that fills the heart during and after these goodbyes. It weighs a person down and can even make them sink into a deep, dark, ocean. But there is One who is in the business of making even the saddest of goodbyes alittle lighter. He can hold the tearful and dry off the ocean. And He can give unexplainable hope of a place we’ve never experienced. Never, that is, until Heaven.