We are promised to each other for a little more than eight years now – and in those three thousand and ten days, {give or take a few}, we’ve spent a little less than half of them whole worlds apart.

The separation of days makes riches of the extraordinary moments in an ordinary life. {And no it’s never easy, the returning, and yes, the grace abounds as we re-discover each other every time … }

And now, the distance between those days is long and the time feels short as he packs up my heart to go again. 

And those extraordinary seconds, they shine brighter now, their significance swollen as we prepare for the leaving … Like a hot July night in Kansas, with our legs dangling off a too short blanket into the sticky, pungent grass.  Our arms intertwined with sweaty toddler and smiling babe, flat on our backs, holding hands across the space filled to brimming. Joy in the knowledge that Husband was all mine for an uninterrupted year {which turned into three}. And we gaped in awe at the flotilla of shooting stars set sail on the small pond and I wondered if this was the happiest I’d ever been at that moment with my hand in his and their arms in mine. And I think yes, because I didn’t know until then that kind of happy, that slice of contentment even existed.

And even there, in the itchy patch of perfection, it’s terrifying to think what comes, to look back and know what did come, or what is coming now. But the terrifying doesn’t erase the moment, can’t extinguish the memory of that night or a hundred others with my hand in his. The fear will not sink the irrepressible joy of seeing my handsome soldier Husband marching in step through the doors of a giant metal hangar, swallowing them safely up home.

And so, until then, we are all gratitude for the moments, safe in the Sovereign arms of a Savior who gifts us every second.

{And friends … while I am remembering the rejoicing, I think of how the Father rejoices with us and when I go there, when I read Zephaniah 3:16-17, even RIGHT now, the words leap off the page  … “Do not fear; The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” 

Do not fear. 

~M.

{Linking up with Emily Wierenga and Imperfect Prose today … in love with this community}

P.S. An awesome iPhone selfie of the aforementioned night in Kansas … look how small the Wee Man was!