I find myself always thinking of her. Maybe all of this thinking could be coined obsession, but is an obsessive love truly a bad thing? A love that says, “I will always be with you, no matter what, till the end.” A love that says, “Even if you’re thousands of miles away from me, you’ll still be stepping close on my mind and on my heart; I will always be remembering you.” A love that says, “ I don’t ever want to leave you.”
But then that day came. The drive to the airport should have been never-ending, but it ended all too quickly. And my love left me.
And I drove away from her.
And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:10-11)
If only I could have run after that plane. Stood on the other side of the fence at the end of the runway so maybe she could see me waving goodbye. And I’d stand there till the plane was out of sight so maybe she would be able to look down and see me fade with the distance.
But that only happens in the movies.
For those of us who do not live in the movies we must bring our eyes down from our lost loves. We must realize that life doesn’t end in that one moment. That the music does not crescendo playing sweet lullabies leaving us lingering in tragic happiness.
“Why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:11)
Even in the most unfortunate circumstances, we must move on. I’m not saying we move on from our love. That we forget our love. That we leave it all behind and act like the past seven months never happened.
No, I’m saying we should constantly think on that love knowing that in the end we’ll be re-united. Knowing that when tomorrow comes we will not be left staring forlornly into the heavens. Because if we are caught with our eyes set to where we think we should be, or to who we think we should be with, or to how we think life should be lived then we will miss a God-given reality.
Seriously, the real tragedy is not losing your love, but it’s losing all that your love’s left for you. Yeah, your love was amazing. She left you wanting more. She gave you the fondest of memories. She aroused you to live life like tomorrow might never come. She challenged you. She loved you back. She was your best friend. She was more than you could have ever dreamed of.
But wait – wait, why are you still staring into the heavens even though her plane’s no longer over the eastern seaboard? Why aren’t you doing something with life? Why aren’t you preparing for the future? Why aren’t you living out that hope to be back with one another?
See, we live in an obsessive culture. We see what we want. We go crazy saying things like, “I got to have that.” “Bro, doesn’t that blow your mind. I wonder how much it costs.” When someone asks us if we want more or if we want a larger size then bring on the next round because the words “I’ll take it” slide off the tongue so gracefully and easily and so quickly. And we get what we want. But when we don’t get it, then that’s all we think about. We obsess about. We crave, craze, gaze, wish-for, need, must have like “must have” were the last words we knew to say because it comes at the moment when we think we’re completely dehydrated and water is the only thing that will save our life.
But that’s only what we think. And then that’s only what we do.
We’re wrong.
We may think we know what we need, but there is something so much greater than we could have ever imagined out there for us. We don’t need to be staring into the heavens, picking out all the constellations, squinting to see the farthest of regions the Universe has to hold. No. Our world is at our feet. Our future is at eye level. And tomorrow is just a reach away.
Tell me that the heavens hold the key to changing the world and I’ll tell you that our Savior God let that key drop, fall to the ground, find it’s way to your stoop, and hid itself under the door step claiming “WELCOME.”
So please, go outside. Look at that mat. Lift it up. Pick up the key. And change the world.
“WELCOME.”
To the reality Jesus left for us.
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