How do you draft a goodbye?

A task we must all face.

An inescapable part of life.

Work day starting, vacation hopping, school year engaging, country leaving – goodbye.

The inevitable dread that lingers over every visit.

If we don’t count the days, if our hands hold tight, if our eyes stay open….there can be no parting.

How can you say farewell to a face you may never see again?

When oceans and countries part you?

When every leaving is the possibility of no return?

One kiss. One hug. One look.

Which is the last?

Which will be the one that lingers, haunting memory as the final time our spirits met?

Fingers poised to type a message to an inbox opened no more.

That last “won’t be long until I see your smiling fact” lingering in mine.

Shared kimchi fried rice and tom kah gai meals.

Sermon and Bible study updates.

Book immersed afternoons.

Peace, quiet, shared companionship.

All gone.

Our memory making an end…on this earth, yes.

The earth that will slowly forget each of us, yes.

Our names and efforts that disappear so quickly.

And yet…

“I know my own and my own know me.”

An eternal God who never forgets, who finishes His good work, who draws His people home.

And for all the memories, the ones of You and I and Him are most vibrant, most sweet, most precious.

The hope that lives beyond this vale of tears.

Our refuge, our home.

Our reunion, never parting.

What joy. What peace. What love.

To see you again…next life.