Last times <3

Sometimes we know when we are seeing something or someone for the last time.

Today I look out our kitchen window on a scene stolen from a snow globe.

As if God gently stirred our home and swirls of tiny flakes are settling on the bricks outside.

I’ve prepared countless meals and washed many a dish while staring out this kitchen window.

I have watched snow fall and looked at flowering pots and blowing leaves.

I have seen kids play ball and heard a dog bark when she was ready to come in.

And now those kids are off navigating life as adults and we said goodbye to Mitzi many a year ago.

And now I know our time here in this house is also coming to an end.

My days to look out across this particular patio and yard and trees, the neighbors behind us…these are numbered down to just a few.

Sometimes we have the chance to say goodbye to something or someone.

Sometimes we don’t.

And in truth, while I think I know exactly where I will be and what will happen in the next few weeks…I have no idea.

Life here is fragile and brief.

Making the most of each day and keeping things in proper perspective, living with purpose and integrity…making plans but knowing they can change drastically in a matter of moments…this is the reality of our lives.

To say goodbye each time knowing it could be the last…to seize every opportunity and sow fully into it…is asking a lot of a clay jar.

But thankfully we are filled with a beauty and grace that transcends our frailty.

Thankfully no one’s salvation or value or worth rests on or in any human being, including our own imperfect selves.

Thankfully…God’s Spirit still hovers over our chaos…and He still gently shakes up all of our well-laid plans…and His Glory falls magnificently over it all.

He is the First…

and He is the Last.

The Beginning of all beginnings and the End of all ends.

Before we ever were…He was…

in all that we now are…He is

And when all has passed…He still will be <3