A Light for My Path

According to English language experts, the word “goodbye” is a contraction or diminutive of the phrase “God be with you.”

Every summer as a child I attended a week-long family reunion/camp meeting. It was one of the highlights of my summer vacation and I still try to time my annual trip to west Tennessee to be able to go out to Kinfolks Camp Meeting for at least a day. This wonderful heritage will soon be celebrating its 200^th consecutive year of family reunion.

For as long as I can remember the last song of the last church service each year has been “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” I love this tradition. The first part of that sentence is a sweet blessing, and the second half implies that we will see each other again. At next year’s reunion, hopefully, but even more importantly at our homecoming in Heaven.

In casual conversation, we often part from each other with “see ya later!”. It’s informal and we typically use it when our parting is not for long. Whoever we are parting from is not embarking on a journey of weeks, months, or years. The parting doesn’t warrant an emotional “God be with you.” We fully expect to see each other again soon.

And we usually do.

Sometimes, though, we know that we may not have another chance to be with someone. Time, distance, or illness may mean it’s likely we are never going to see each other in person again. Our goodbyes are protracted, serious, and emotional, especially if the farewell is due to impending death. We may pray together and talk about our eventual reunion in Heaven. It’s so hard to say goodbye forever.

It’s harder still to not get to say goodbye. When death is sudden and unexpected we are often left with guilt and fear. There’s no closure. My younger daughter’s dying hit me like a physical blow. She was a young, healthy newlywed. Excited about a new job and married life. The last time I saw her in person I was hugging her with tears of joy in my eyes as she and her husband headed off on their honeymoon. When we spoke on the phone, we always ended with “love you, bye!”, but there was always the assumption there would be another call.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my older daughter lost her dad (my ex-husband) suddenly and unexpectedly just two weeks before Thanksgiving. She and her husband and their four kids had visited with him for Sunday dinner just the week before. They spoke frequently on the phone and were looking forward to seeing him at Thanksgiving. She is, of course, broken-hearted.

In both these cases, my younger daughter, and my girls’ dad, even though we didn’t get to say goodbye, we have the reassurance of till we meet again. We know for certain there will eventually be a reunion.

My heart goes out to people who have lost loved ones who not only have no closure, but who have no assurance of an eternal homecoming. Goodbye is hard. I pray that we all have the blessing of being able to say, “God be with you, ‘til we meet again.”

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Laura