sending love to the ends of the earth

the price of love

this photo of Deborah and Sarah
shows why this momma's heart fractures
as she watches her children, one by one, say 
"I love you. It has been so good to have you home/to be home."
not sure when we will be together again,
very aware of how quickly life changes,
knowing we cannot simply jump in a car to go visit Deborah's family

we have learned to not take being together for granted
we have learned to maximize and appreciate moments 
we have learned to use technology to "see" one another

we fully believe what I wrote yesterday:
"we are all right where we need to be"
and we have joy in serving where we have been called
and we are at peace with the fact that we are spread "hither and yon"
but the letting one another go,
the leaving to get to where we need to be,
reminds us that loving comes with a price, we gladly pay it, but it isn't easy

How do I "do it" ? 

Bill and I began praying for each of our children while I was pregnant that they would grow to know and love the Lord. I also began to pray when they were very young that God would prepare my heart for whatever He had planned for them to do. We are called to "go and make disciples". I knew that if they came to know and love Him they would follow Him and it would be very unlikely that all six would remain close and I needed to be prepared to let them go. 

How do we do it?
We have learned to keep eternity in mind.

"Then Peter spoke up, 

'We have left everything to follow you!' 

'Truly I tell you,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: 

homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields

—along with persecutions—

and in the age to come eternal life.' " 

Mark 10:28-30