//yearn//

YEARN
yern/
verb
have an intense feeling of longing for something, typically something that one has lost or been separated from.

Each of us has yearned or longed for someone before. Yearning takes a myriad of forms. As I contemplate the meaning of the word, pictures flow through my soul...

A man in uniform, dusty barracks, hopes of catching a Skype glimpse of his wife and kids miles away,
A woman marked by age with the wrinkles framing her smile, his joy had once been the cause of laughter for years and years,
A grieving mother whose womb is left empty less than nine months despite the initial elation of the two pink lines,
A child longing for parents to accept, love, walk hand in hand with during his most formative years,
A middle aged man holding tightly to his frail wife's hand, cancer wining, greener days past replaying in his mind,
A daughter becoming a new mother, missing her very own on the day she so desperately wanted her by her bedside for delivery,
A father who watches, his daughters best friends walk the graduation stage, she is missing because of a drunk,
A girl, woken up after a night of sin, desperately wanting to reclaim purity,
A new bride, tears falling, clings to her brother as he holds her during the Father/daughter dance the day she married a man her Daddy would have been proud to accept as his son-in-law,
A professional athlete left devastated in the wake of paralysis,
An addict exhausted from a losing battle, dear faces lost as a result of his path of destruction...

Faces of yearning are among us. 

Yearning for friends, family, significant others, spouses, kids, purity, dreams, brighter days, days past... days future. Yearning: an intense feeling of longing drawing perspective away from the present. Yearning many times is associated with heartbreak, pain, or suffering. I find that association spot on when I think of things I yearn for that are temporal. However, when I face this feeling, I can't help but see the parallel to my eternal yearnings.

If you yearn for a person missing from your life, the longing is because you care for them. You want to be around them, sitting in their presence, seeing their smile, watching their life, enjoying laughter, and embracing the mutual affection for one another. Joy explodes in the simplicity of presence. This is exactly how we are to await the greatest Glory in front of us: the Coming of the Bridegroom for His Bride.

I (We) am (are) the Bride. Christ is the Bridegroom. Someday there will be the victorious wedding feast... a Holy Ghost Party that WILL NOT STOP! The yearning will be null. Because the yearning is for His presence, and THAT is where I (we) belong. For Eternity. A place where I will find myself one day. The beloved with the Lover.

Tonight, I soak in the drifting worship music, the comforting Psalms, and the smell of my Hawaiian candle (yes Heaven will resemble Hawaii ;), and I can't tear my heart from the yearning for His presence. My King, My Savior. Truly my everything. I want to be WITH Him. In His presence. Nothing can compare... Basking in His affection for me. I yearn for this day, but the beauty in it is the truth that I yearn for the Eternal!! 

Can you think on that for more than a minute... like, join me in thinking on that for your lifetime, please!! It's crazy!! My yearning is not heartbreaking, because I'm NOT yearning for something left unfulfilled. I'm yearning for something that has been  signed, sealed, delivered- past, present AND future! What a Glorious promise to wait for. I find joy in knowing my eternity is established. My Creator who knows me intimately will lavish His full Glory and Love upon me one day in the future! No greater future is there to be had.

Therefore, brothers, sisters, yearn with me... what awaits us: the inexhaustible, unfathomable love, affection, presence, and Glory of our Creator, the Most High King, the one true God! And as we wait, let our prayer be that He show us His Glory in our life today- in the present. Even in the temporal what we find ourselves yearning after.

"For, 'In just a little while, he who is coming, will come and will NOT DELAY" Hebrews 10:37
"For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" Habakkuk 2:3
"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9