Goodbye?

My what a rich and full few weeks.... I am so blessed to have spent the greater part of the last month with some of my favorite people. I was honored at a wonderful goodbye party in Spokane, and got to go kayaking with the "queens" of the Whitworth music department. I had countless lunch dates and ice cream dates and coffee dates and dinner dates and phone dates and long conversations that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. I watched the sunset from the top of Mt. Spokane with my adopted Spokane family. I went fishing with my brother and sister-in-law, went backpacking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness with my dad, spent an evening with my aunt and uncle in Naches, and stopped in for a quick "hello" in Olympia with my uncle, aunt, cousins and grandmother....and I happened to be in time to see one of my cousins perform in a musical - what fun!

I have listened, shared, laughed, cried, danced, reminisced, sung, prayed, hiked...and I have driven...many, MANY miles! Oh, and I may have run a few errands and packed a little too....

There have been moments when I've been overwhelmed with how many people I have to stay in contact with...which is not something I'm not always the best at. But in those moments, I am quick to remind myself that I GET to stay in contact with all of those people. What a gift to know and be known by such dear friends - to have shared time around so many tables with such precious souls. I am blessed, indeed.

And in all of this, the phrase that keeps coming back is "see you later." I don't know when or how or where, but I will see you later! It's a comforting thing to say. It doesn't feel as final as "goodbye."

But as I got to thinking this evening, I considered the origins of that dreaded word..."goodbye." It's simply a contraction of the phrase "God be with you." It's not a farewell. It's a blessing. A benediction. You might say it to a friend as they set forth on a journey. Or, you might speak it as a word of reassurance to someone going through a difficult time. And even more than a wish or a desire, it is the restatement of a promise already made. God be with you because God is with you. Immanuel. God with us. Here. Now. In this moment. In every moment. In the past. In the present. In whatever lies ahead.

So while it's still not going to make it on my list of favorite words, I think I've perhaps come to a new appreciation of what it means to say "goodbye." I know God is with me because I have seen and known and heard and felt Him through my wonderful family and friends. And I hope to live my life in such a way that others may know and realize the truth of the promise of His presence.

So, goodbye. God be with you. God is with you.