Endings

It’s almost over.  The last day of spring break.  When our older son was little, he cried at the end of every vacation.  He just didn’t want the fun to end.  I feel a little like crying today.

We’ve spent a glorious week in Destin, Florida, with our good friends, the Solets.  All nine of us Coopers were together again after a three-month separation.  Our younger son and his wife moved to Houston in January, so life in Indy has changed. We had taken those spur-of-the-moment dates for granted when we all lived within ten minutes of each other.  Things were different then, so this has been a memorable week.  All nine of us have never vacationed together before.  This was a first.  Now it’s the last day.

I just read in Deuteronomy 16:13-15 yesterday how God commanded the Israelites to celebrate their harvests with a week long festival where they ate delicious food and praised God together.  We are kind of celebrating God’s goodness in our lives this week, too.  We recognize His provision.  As Kingdom builders, we are celebrating the harvest.  From CRF, Inc. to CityCom to Grizzly Studios to other new unnamed adventures on which the Lord is leading the Coopers, we listen, encourage, advise and pray for each other, all the while thanking God for the harvests of blessings in each other’s lives.

This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters…

for seven days you must celebrate this festival

to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses

for it is he who blesses you with bountiful harvests

and give you success in all your work.

This festival will be a time of great joy for all.

I feel like the Coopers just had their seven-day festival.  Not sure God intended us to gain five pounds in the raucous, but our scrumptious seafood dinners overlooked sunsets on the beach and included indulging in delicious desserts.   While it can’t go on forever, this week was a time to celebrate God’s goodness to us through our festivities…and just because we love being together.

There’s hardly been an hour during this past week that I haven’t breathed a thank you to the Lord.  Safe travel.  Beautiful sunny days on the beach.  Clouds that lifted when we prayed.  Children’s laughter.  Adult conversation.  A reprieve from responsibilities back home.  Rest.  Togetherness.  Joy all around.   No wonder I don’t want it to end.

Tomorrow I’ll be stifling the tears.  I’m depending on God’s grace to say good-bye to family and friends.  I will instead choose to be thankful.  I will continue to praise Him when celebrations come to an end.  I can’t live here forever.  I can’t build an altar to these beautiful experiences.  None of us can dwell on the mountaintop.  We have to come back down to the mundane, nitty gritty of life.  Monday is around the corner.  The festival is over.  But one thing is sure.  No matter if He leads us through trials in the wilderness or gives us celebrations on the mountaintops, we are blessed by the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.