On saying goodbye.... Again.

I said goodbye today.
Again.

Seems like my life has been full of goodbyes in the last few months.
Or rather "See you soon"'s as goodbye became too painful.
And now we're in a new house.
New church.
New job.
And the boys are at new schools and colleges.

Anyway, back to today.
I drove quite a few miles for a final meeting with someone who has shared my journey for the last 18 months.
She has heard my story.
Witnessed my tears.
Laughed with me.
Taken me tenderly forward to a place of discovery and growth.
`
And you know
It felt ok.
It felt right to be saying goodbye.

Part of the reason, I believe,
was something I read earlier this morning.
I was in my favourite coffee shop.
That sells amazing bread.
And the most perfect flat whites I've ever tasted.
But I digress....

I asked God if there was anything I needed to know before I went to say goodbye.
As I opened my journal,
and looked down the page.
I read this:

 You've always given me breathing room,
a place to get away from it all,
a lifetime pass to your safe house,
an open invitation as your guest.
Psalm 61:3-4

 And this...

There is nothing but God's grace.
We walk upon it,
We breathe it,
We live and die by it.
(Robert Louis Stevenson)

 And this...

 Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace;
So sure 
And certain
that we could stake our life on it a thousand times.
(Martin Luther)

 Life is transient.
Always changing.
Especially mine it seems.

But God is unchanging.
Constant.
Steadfast.
And He gives me an open invitation to be,
to breathe,
to get away from it all with Him.

Goodbyes are a fact of life in one form or another.
But God IS.
Always
Forever.


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