When I walked into our apartment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Had we been burglarized or vandalized? There was bits and pieces of our home, our life
scattered all over the floor. No not “scattered”
but shredded and then scattered. It was
like a tickertape parade without the parade.
Wallpaper ripped off the walls, a loveseat ripped, the baseboard torn
off the wall and metal threshold bent beyond repair. There is the middle of the chaos set our Dalmatian
puppy, Max, tail wagging, feigned innocence written across his face, small
piece of wallpaper dangling from his spotted face.
Apparently Max, the runt of his litter, suffered from what his
vet labelled separation anxiety, so when we left for work that morning ,
leaving him unchaperoned and alone with his canine angst, his only outlet was
to assume his best Chip Gaines persona on demo day.
A Iot of water has passed under the bridge since that day
and I honestly can’t remember how we got Max past that stage. But I could certainly use some of that wisdom
today. I’m convinced that the pain of being
apart is a direct result of the fall. We just dropped off #J at the airport for
his return flights to the States and I feel a little like clawing a hole the
wall or chewing on some wallpaper.
Separation is tough and with recent study I’ve come to
understand it has always been so. Think
back to the garden of Eden. Eve took a
fateful taste of the forbidden fruit and sin entered the world. Before that bite, Adam and Eve lived in
complete innocence, perfect unity with one another and complete harmony and relationship
with God. Genesis 3 tells us one of the results
of eating that fruit was that Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, they
were separated from God. That’s truly
the horrific effect of sin. We, in our
broken, foul, soiled state, cannot have relationship with a perfect, sinless,
holy God.
Isn’t that what makes Emmanuel (God with us) so
great! Our Father’s sacrifice, sending Jesus
to come dwell among us, live a perfect life and die on a cruel, cruel cross for
our sins, out of His deep love for us, is simple too much to comprehend. And the gift that comes from His act of love,
eternal life for those who call on the Name of Jesus, lived in His presence,
compounds that too muchness.
There is coming a day when the pain of goodbyes, the anxiety
of separation will be forgotten. Lord
hasten the day!
