Distance

I live about seven hours from "home."  I quoted that word because over the last few years, home has become this place in Tennessee.  I've gotten over not having a Georgia license plate and driver's license...but it was hard.  Anyway, I've lived away from home for a while now. 

I miss my family...I miss sitting in my mama's lap (yes, I still do that sometimes).  I miss my daddy's smile and comforting way he tells a story.  I miss watching my brother and sister in law lovingly and beautifully love each other and their baby girls.  I have missed first steps and first words of the best two girls ever made. I miss my sister's crazy laughter and not knowing why we started laughing in the first place.

But in spite of all the missing, I am fuller because I recognize that my love for them is bigger and greater than what I've missed.  I know I'm doing what God wanted me to do...that is love and testimony enough for the family that told me I could do anything and be anything and that I should do whatever God called me to do.

When I traveled across the world to Thailand when I was 22 years old and had no idea where I was on the map, I remember thinking about my mama and daddy and how they allowed me to go.  And I loved them even more for it.  

When I traveled across the world to China last summer, I got to the airport in Beijing and I was jet-lagged and overwhelmed and didn't know what to do...and it was hot and smoggy...and I started crying because I wanted Chris to be there with me to help me figure things out and give me strength. And during that time in China, I saw myself more fully and that distance helped me to know even more assuredly that I didn't "need" Chris to fulfill me, but I wanted him to be by my side.

Distance...Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census and had a child far away from the love and stability of their home.  And even after that, they weren't afforded the option of returning. Mary didn't have a mother's hand to hold as she birthed the Son of God.  But also think about the secondary characters...Mary's family...Joseph's family...Elizabeth and Zechariah.  Distance may have given them some perspective.  How could you let this happen, Mary?  We taught you to be a good girl, and here you are pregnant and not married yet.  And then the child comes...and they aren't there...they missed it.  Even though they didn't understand, I can imagine that Mary's mother still wanted to be there to witness that joy.  And all characters may have begun to understand their love for each other a little more fully.

What lengths have you taken to have perspective?  Do you need to take some time, some distance, or some space this season to truly see and feel the impact of God's love for you this Christmas season? Who has God gifted you with to love? Who has God gifted with your love?