"Goodbye For Now"

 

Yesterday we said goodbye to a couple more missionary units from our team. 

 

 

As I ran with God this morning, I was thinking about all of the many "goodbyes" to teammates we’ve said over a few short years.  There are so many.  The Daniels families, the Holtons, Lauren, Sam, the Wilsons, Josey, Emily, the Scarboroughs, the Stockerts, the Duboses, and now the Pekareks and Autumn.  Many of those are people who Derek and I have really tried to pursue, invest in, and treat like family.  So many homeschool sessions and Bible study meetings with dear missionary children I may never see again. Countless coffee dates with women who have left… most likely never to return.  An abundance of play dates for Finn and Skye with friends who no longer live here.  

 

 

I was thinking about the blog post I wrote three years ago entitled, “Missionary Marriages—Not what you Think.”  This is the other side of that coin.  

 

 

In order to really function as the body of Christ with people you have to invest in them, be vulnerable with them, and pursue kingdom advancement with them like you might with a spouse, yet the nature of the mission we’re called to means that just as quickly as we unite ourselves to others, we may also be called to release them and say “goodbye, for now.” 

 

 

This is an aspect of missionary life that I think most people don’t realize.  I certainly didn’t.  Everyone thinks about the huge life transition that a missionary goes through when they uproot their family and move to another country, and of the huge learning curve and burden to settle into life in a new place and new community.  But what I think most don’t realize is that the transition is much more than a one-time thing.  You don’t just say goodbye when you get on the plan in your home country.  Many of us are forced to say goodbye to dear friends every year or two.  We quickly become like family with our missionary teammates, and then after a year or two they leave (either for an extended furlough back home, or quite often to follow the Lord’s call elsewhere).  To be a missionary in this day and age is really to adopt a lifestyle of “goodbye for now.”

 

 

This is hard—the balance of loving yet holding loosely.  Is it not one of the chief struggles of our human existence?  Yet this is exactly what Jesus Christ modeled for us.  He threw himself into deep, deep relationship with 12 men (really, it was probably quite a few more than that) who He knew He would say goodbye to after 3 short years.  Not only that, but He knew that they would be forced to say goodbye to Him.  

 

 

I think the nature of life and loss in this world can cause us to be extremely selective with who we allow into our inner circle.  Missionary life could certainly do that to you.  As much as we move and watch our friends move it can be easy to maintain walls around our hearts to protect us from the constant hurt of saying goodbye.  But I am encouraged and inspired by the example of Christ.  And so, I will try to continue pursuing and loving people, and make the most of the time I have with them.  And through it all I will endeavor to recognize the constancy of God’s Holy Spirit in them, loving me through each one, and never ever leaving me for good.

 

~ Laura