Sep 18, 2013

why i cry when vacations end


this weekend was with our dearest, the ones who stood beside us three years ago on 8/28. at a camp in the mountains,  we ate together and slept in sleeping bags and on couches and in pack and plays.

time didn't matter except for knowing when it was time to eat and time to canoe.
 

it felt perfect. and happy.


and ian laughed.
 

and lanterns floated.
 

and the coyotes started to howl as the fog drifted over the lake and onto our campfire.


 and we watched as three floated over the lake, thinking on all that three years had brought.


we talked about god and wondered if maybe those days were a fraction of what heaven would be like. and when it all ended, before it ended but we had to start cleaning, i started crying. because times of refreshment remind me that we're not in heaven yet. leaving vacations filled with reprieve and entering back into the messiness of life feels like stepping outside of heaven after tasting its sweetness. 

a foretaste of what is to come.

L

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

♥Perfect♥ -Thank You Jesus!
-Leslie Dawn

Glimpse of crags and clay said...

Great friendships- keep them going as long as life itself :)
Do i see a glow necklace on Ian - great idea!
Joe

R said...

because times of refreshment remind me that we're not in heaven yet. leaving vacations filled with reprieve and entering back into the messiness of life feels like stepping outside of heaven after tasting its sweetness.


yes. oh yes. thank you.

Simocha said...

Beautiful words. I like "a foretaste of what is to come." Sometimes we forget.

auntie terry said...

so true, rissa.

Deb said...

The crying is okay. We are meant for more and one glorious day, there we will be! Thank you for the reminder.

Anonymous said...

:(. miss yall

Anonymous said...

Camp misses you rissa and ian and all of you happy people. :)
aunt lori

Jenny - PA said...

....sigh...
Was in the same place this past summer....
Heaven seems so much sweeter....

Angela said...

Like the end of each of the Chronicles of Narnia, when the children are told they must return to England. Until the end of the Last Battle, when they are assured they're there to stay. Sweet hope. As C S Lewis says: this world feels so alien because we're not meant for here(paraphrased).

Cyn said...

Beautiful, Thank you for sharing.

Stephanie said...

Yes, it will be so sweet to be there fully and never leave, surrounded by the same great cloud of witnesses.

Erin said...

I will never look at the end of retreats the same again. What. Beautiful reminder. Thank-you.