10,000 Miles

I am at a proverbial loss for words.  When I read the heartwrenching accounts of kiddies suffering, parents sacrificing, and heroes saving, I hug my husband and children all the more long.  But today, the hugs are longer; I just don't want to let go.   

When we were teenagers or even college grads, 36 seemed old and past our prime.  Today, 36 seems full of hope with a yearning for things to come.  There's a new eagerness to discover what your kiddies will learn today and become tomorrow.  It's a second wind, opening another chapter in this life on earth.  36 is inarguably too young to die.

I was privileged to hear my friend Gloria sing praises to our glorious Maker on her baby Taylor guitar, at the top of her whisper, in a place where people are punished for declaring His name.  And I was doubly blessed to see her don a dress while sweetly singing at Sung and Clint's wedding after we returned from the Motherland.  We've joked about our shared love for our wacky Taiwanese heritage and laughed about surviving those harsh Boston winters.  I can still see her smiling face and hear her contagious laugh.

Gloria will never see her girls bring home their first As or try to hide their first Cs.  She'll miss trying to wipe that silly grin off her face when she first sees Karinna hold hands with a boy.  Gloria won't be sitting on the bride's side when her girls become one with God fearing men.  And she won't be there to hold her grandchildren, smiling and cooing after their first breaths of air.  But Gloria will be pain free in her new body, rejoicing in our Lord, seeing Him in all His glory.  And one day, she will be reunited with her girls, when her hugs can last for all eternity.

My heart is hiccupping in anticipation of God to fulfill His perfect plan today.  Sing as loud as you can when you see Jesus, Gloria!  What a celebration it will be. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Tz3pVb9Dg