Today’s the day!
(Clarissa and I on our way home for Thanksgiving 2015)
The college girl comes home.
I can’t wait.
We’ve been cleaning and vacuuming.
She has really bad allergies and the farm boy’s dog is a little much for her.
Combined with the fact that cleaning is not my favorite task; the house makes her a mess!
So, my farmer got us a new HEPA vacuum.
The farm girls LOVE using it.
Win, win for everyone!
I’ve been baking and planning.
I want everything to be perfect for her arrival home.
I want to take care of her and drink copious amounts of coffee around that farmhouse table.
I long for my daughter to be home.
To be in her presence.
It strikes me. . . the longing.
I long for my son.
To hear his voice; to gaze into those baby blue eyes.
To cook him his favorite meal.
All which I will never do… ever.
I long for my parents.
Their home will be sold sometime soon. . . I long for just one more of those times together there.
Longing. . .a yearning desire.
We all have them.
A desire for something.
Someone.
An intense longing.
God longs for us.
He longs for us to come into his presence.
To seek his face.
He has gone before us to prepare a place for us.
That is how deep his longing for us.
John 14:2-3
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so,
would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
My thoughts linger on that longing.
Of a Holy Father longing for me.
Waiting.
Encouraging.
How deep my longing is for my boy.
How much greater is God’s longing for us.
Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
He relentlessly pursues us.
Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
He will one day fulfill that longing.
He will come, and on that great day, take us to be with him . . .
For all of eternity.
Where the desires of hearts will forever be satisfied.
The farm house doors are eager for the college girl to walk through;
Just as heaven must have rejoiced when Jesus, the son of God, returned to heaven.
Just as heaven must have resounded when the farm boy woke in the land of Glory.
Oh, the rejoicing there must have been.
Those deep longings we have can be satisfied.
A bowed knee before the Throne of God is enough to satiate the most weary of souls.
I am thankful for:
the longing for heaven
God’s relentless pursuit of us
the return of the college girl
the excitement of coming home
new side walls on the milk house
bills that are being paid down
my farmer who is working hard to make fabulous milk
milk
coffee
the two together
dinner with the farm boy last night
our study of Nehemiah and the faithful man he was
May your longings be satisfied in Christ.
May you always have hope.
I pray that you will sit quietly for a few moments.
Listen to the words of this song.
Remember you are loved beyond anything that you could ever, ever imagine.
