The Countdown

We moved to Florida when Matt was four and Brad was just a little over a year old. And Meghann came along almost nine months to the day after we moved. I wouldn't want to live there again, but it was fun to be near the beach for those years when the kids were little. One of the things I  remember most about our time there was what a huge deal it was when the space shuttles would launch from Cape Canaveral. People would sit glued to their televisions watching the countdown, and then they would run outside to see if they could catch a glimpse of the massive spaceship as it roared across the sky. The closer the countdown would get to zero, the more the anticipation would build ... zero meant the big event was happening.

Last night I went to a bridal shower for my little girl, and as I watched her interact with the ladies in the room, I couldn't help but think ... the clock is ticking ... the countdown is on ... in 25 days, my baby, my youngest child, will be married. She laughed and ate cake and opened gifts and hugged people. She's all grown up, and yet she's still my baby girl. The clock has ticked so quickly over the last 22 years ... so very quickly. And in 25 days, she will be married ... the countdown is definitely on.

As I drove home, I couldn't help but think about time and how quickly it passes at times and how slowly it drags at others. In some ways, it seems like only yesterday that all three of my children were small, and in other ways, it feels like they have been out on their own for a long time. At times, my days feel like years, and at other times, my years feel like days. Time is a funny thing ... it can be both friend and enemy ... it can give and take away ... it can restore and destroy. But it always, always, always passes, whether inching forward or racing ahead, it always passes.

While our family's focus is on the countdown to Meghann and Barrett's wedding day, I'm aware that there is a much bigger countdown going on for each of us, for every person on earth, in fact. Since the day each of us was born, the countdown to eternity began ... the day when God calls us home ... the ultimate countdown of them all.

My prayer this morning is twofold ... I can't help but breathe a prayer for my baby girl and Barrett, for a life where their love for God is at the center of their marriage ... that they will always treat each other with honor, respect and love. And the second part of my prayer? That my heart is ready when my countdown is over and God calls, "Come on home, girl ... come on home."