Well, whadya know? We made it to the second day. Woot woot! Just some musings about a topic that everyone talks about so.much. here.  It’s not the best; it’s not even really a poem, but we tried?

They said to get used to saying goodbye. 

That expat life, man, people just come and go. 

But what I didn’t understand,

Was how people weren’t used to saying goodbyes already?

 

I feel like I’ve been saying goodbye my whole life. 

Moving away from childhood friends.

Moving back again.

Or having them move away, some come back, few stay. 

 

Or what about marriage? People laugh, but they also didn’t have to watch –

Their childhood friends marry and depart, one by one.

Their college friends marry and depart, one by one. 

Their hometown friends marry and depart, one by one; these are still goodbyes, as all single people know. 

 

And there’s that final goodbye, that last breath, 

Of professors you’d thought you’d see again, 

Of friends gone too soon.

Of empty beds in family hospital rooms. 

 

We’re always saying goodbye. 

Why must we emphasize it so much here?

Everyone wants to live without regret, 

So there are talks and conferences and seminars….

 

But, it’s impossible to live without regret, 

Because we are fallen and sinful people.

There’s always going to be that person we didn’t say goodbye to,

Either through intention or missed opportunity. 

 

I understand it’s important to say goodbye well,

But sometimes life doesn’t give us the chance. 

So we must just do our best to live well, 

Connect and engage while it’s still called today. 

 

We’re going to goodbye our lives away here

No matter what we say or do.

It’s hard, it’s tough, it’s grinding,

It’s not the way things are meant to be. 

 

But perhaps that’s the value of them after all.

They are inherently wrong

Because they are meant to point us

To the One who is Inherently Right.

 

Because our goodbyes mean something to Him,

And He keeps all of our tears next to His Heart. 

And He promises a day when

We will never be apart. 

 

So I’ll cling to the truth,

That one day we’ll stay.

For His Death was the proof

That He’d make a way.