Beautiful Goodbyes

[written from a coffee shop in the Hartfield-Jackson International Airport]

It's already been exactly one week since graduation, and I'm still processing my goodbye. I was never ready to leave First Year, and I don't think I ever will. But, that's the thing about goodbyes; you will never be ready for them. They happen so suddenly and you're given a choice to deal with the emotions there or later. Everyone's goodbye looked different, and that's okay. But, it was the goodbyes where I fully leaned in, with my entire being, that meant the most to me.

It's kind of like when Jesus ascended back to heaven after resurrecting from the dead and spending forty days with the twelve disciples. How sad do you think they all were when Jesus said he had to go forever? Some would be crying, I'm certain. In fact, I'm even more certain that this was the greatest most beautiful goodbye in world history. It has to have been. But that's the thing. We all know why Jesus left. Jesus left so that He could give humanity His Spirit. He left so that we could have Him live inside us so that we would carry the same authority and power Jesus had to do all that He did during His time on earth. Isn't that the greatest departing gift ever?

So, as we leave each other after spending nine beautiful months together, we release to one another the very things we have stewarded here in this time of incubation and cultivation. Just as we have Holy Spirit inside of us, we carry pieces of each other wherever we go. Although many of us are physically apart, we are always connected by the parts of ourselves we have released to each other.

Goodbyes are beautiful; you just have to lean in and let it unfold you. The glistening tear-filled eyes, the pondering gazes, the sweet wide smiles, and the weighted embraces of the ones departing. If you just allow Him to move you whichever way He goes, I assure you it will be beautiful. Maybe that's it: goodbyes are beautiful because they make the ones departing beautiful, or perhaps just revealing a beautiful part of who we are.

love,

CITRA