Today I had to leave a friend. We were able to swap stories for a month, and encourage one another through laughter and smiles. After a month of connecting and enjoying company I had to leave for my next ministry. It was not as easy as I expected. I had become attached to this friend and was enjoying being part of her ministry. And that my heart was now invested at the base.
After leaving the base, I got extremely sad as I realized I may never be back. My heart is aching just thinking about it. The ache is strong enough that it makes me not want to get too attached to anyone in my next country. On the flip side, I have realized that I don’t have a choice, if I want to be a disciple of Christ. This is the way Christ loved: he left his Father in heaven. He became attached to a minimum of 12 people, and after three years (which is way longer than a month), he died for a few days. He then came back to those people for 40 days, and left for good. Those disciples probably missed Jesus quite a bit when he left. The point is that Christ loved with an unconditional love that transcended all other loves. That is how I show love as I follow his example.
When I intentionally open up for a month (whichever month it is), I know at the end there will be heartache. It’s okay to not be okay. When I choose to love unconditionally as Christ did, that person (people) will always be in my heart. I will miss them when I am gone, and therefore I will also ache when I need to let go and trust that God will take care of his plan as only he can.
