Memories

Tonight I had a fond memory brought back by the onset of this cold spell we are experiencing. I was reminded of when my husband and I were dating. I remembered the intensity of our feelings for one another--how we used to despise the end of our dates, the longing and yearning we had for one another was absolutely painful. I was attending a pinewood derby with my youngest child at a church in Memphis. While we were waiting for the results of the races, I opened the back door of the church which resembled a school gymnasium door and poked my head out to check on the weather and as the cold hit my face, I was embraced by the vision of two young people kissing until their faces seemed frozen together; holding one another, never wanting to let go; and whispering words of love and desire and unutterable joy; yes even rubbing our noses together. I loved how he would open his jacket and allow me to put my arms around his warm body and the safety I felt there, the love that I felt wrapped around me; the sweetness of his neck as I buried my face practically pressing my body into his. My parents would not tolerate much more of this, so we had to part. And that's when the longing would start. Never before nor after have I been so utterly consumed by one person. That is until I met my Savior. But Jesus is more, so much more than a person. He is God, the Everlasting Father, the great I AM, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End and how I long for Him in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. How I long for the beauty of His face, the touch of His hand and the sound of His voice; but I must wait patiently and never be afraid nor dismayed for He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me and He has given me His Holy Spirit and His precious Word and His lovely Church until that day He calls me home. Oh what a day that will be!

There are seasons of life
treasured days gone by--
and the present with it's trials
and temptations,
and the future with hopes, with
dreams that may come--
the longing and the desire
presses us forward
toward the prize
of unspeakable joy
and reward
even while tears
fall
and failure
threatens to destroy
the journey
home---
for I remember that
I have not been left here alone;
the Lord is well acquainted
with my ways, and He has taken
me out of the darkness
and poured into me His marvelous
Light and my past becomes a haze
as I look to the Ancient of Days
who draws me ever upward
where my redemption
draws nigh!
And the peace that surpasses
all human understanding
guards my heart and my mind
through my Christ Jesus, my Lord,
my Savior, my delight and my
Friend, who is faithful to
the end of all earthly time;
then eternity......Amen and Amen.