Don't Forget to Say, "I Love You"

 

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment… - Hebrews 9:27

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground--because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19

…a time to be born and a time to die… - Ecclesiastes 3:2a

“We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.” —Vera Lynn

Last October, I (Steve) had flown back to Texas to be with my family. “Pop” - my Dad - was at the end of his life, hospice had been called in, and it was time for me to say “Goodbye.”

Saturday, November 5, 2022, Pop ceased breathing in the middle of the night. His journey had ended. God had ultimately healed him from cancer. Goodbye.

I was not there with him when he passed. My Mom and brother were. But, at least I got to tell him that I loved him…that it was ok to go on and we would see him again - “some sunny day.”

Over the last couple of years we have had to say “Goodbye” to more people than we like to admit. How about you? It isn’t easy is it?

Whether it is “Goodbye” because someone gets a new job; moves away; goes to a new school; or, when someone dies, saying “Goodbye” is difficult and often painful. 

But something that we have become more and more aware of is this simple fact: everything in this life has an expiration date.

We don’t mean this to be all “gloom and doom” - it is just a fact. Everything has an expiration date. Including you and I.

All the more reason to spend ourselves tirelessly…completely obeying the command of Christ to “Love God and love our neighbor.” As John the Apostle puts it: “Let us not just love in word or speech, but in deed and truth,” (1 John 3:18).

Love one another.

A few years back - don’t ask us as it will make us feel old - Stevie Wonder had a great song titled, “I Just Called to Say, ‘I Love You.’”  Now that we are older, the power of that song means a lot more. 

We never know exactly how much time we have with those we love. We never know how much time we have to make things right with someone we have been fighting with. We never know how much time we have to make things right with someone we have hurt. We never know how much time we have to forgive someone who has hurt us. We never know how much time we have. Period. 

As I have been reflecting on saying goodbye, the scriptures above - along with a lot of others - came to mind. Now, at first glance, they appear rather gloomy and doomy. Kind of a downer, if you will. But, we should rather look at them as loving reminders of what is approaching for all of us.  Death.

And what better way to prepare for death than living today? Living. Loving.

As Pop used to joke with me: “Live everyday like it’s your last…one day you’ll be right!” 

It’s in more reflective moments such as this that I recall one of my favorite songs of all time. The group Allies (with lead singer Bob Carlisle of “Butterfly Kisses” fame) wrote a song on their “Man with a Mission” album. It was simply titled: “Heaven.”

And as we say goodbye to those we love - it is all the more reason to remember we have the God-given opportunity to see them again. In Heaven.

So, goodbye for now. Adios amigos! May the good Lord take a liking to you! Happy trails to you! And, if we don’t see you again here we pray we see you there…

Oh, and remember, “We love you.”

Heaven - Allies (HQ)

Until we meet again,

Missy and Steve