Spend Forever with Jesus

I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. // Isaiah 66:18

Last year, a close friend walked out of my life. I chose to share my story intimately with someone who, all at once, stopped responding or even acknowledging me, and the pain felt insurmountable. For months, I would find the most difficult part of my day was right when I came home from work, and I would wonder what his day at work had been like. I wanted to tell the story about that coworker that was driving me up the wall or share about the new assignment I was working, but I knew I would not be responded to if I reached out.

This daily peak in my grieving came and went like clockwork.

I started to come home and read every day from my favorite author to feel like I was connecting with someone who understood me. One evening, I read the following from Henri Nouwen's Discernment:

"Remembering grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, and friends who have died or gone away is not just some sentimental, pious custom of those who can't move on; it is the continuation of a relationship that still exists and has yet to come to fulfillment. Indeed it is the Spirit of Christ that tells us there is a coming reunion more profound than the relationship in the past or present" (page 127).

I truly experienced a dense fog lift from my heart when I remembered that all of my longing to be reunited with this friend grew out of a deeper longing for eternal communion. The more I sat with that reality, the more I knew it to be true. There was something unfulfilling or superficial about my desire to connect with him, in the face of how deeply I desired for him to spend forever with Jesus.

In today's readings, we are reminded that the Lord will gather people from every nation, from the east and the west and the north and the south, to recline at the Kingdom of God. Let us pray today that the Lord would convict us with the reality of this profound reunion He is orchestrating.

The Lord will gather people. // Sarah ElizabethClick to tweet

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