no matter how many times...

No matter how many times we feel the heartache of having to let friends go... it never gets easier.

It's been a number of years now since I've invested my heart and life in relationship with people who I must release to another life that I will no longer be a part of in the same way. Not since college...
Yes, being away this year is, in a sense, like this with my friends at home... but I left knowing I would return, that we'd pick up our lives together.

Here... there is something that happens in your relationships. It sneaks in and pervades to the depths and you don't realize how much you love. Then... all of a sudden your faced with people you've spent each day with, in a uniquely singular and transformative experience, leaving.

There is a love born in our relationships here that is quite singular. It is a joy and a gift. But one you must give thanks for and then release back to the heart of God, thanking him for the glimpse of the joys of heaven -the hope- then plead with him for strength to dig deep into the vineyards and do the laborious work that yet needs to be done.

My heart is breaking a little. Yet I am deeply joyful and grateful that I've been given so much to give away.

<3 E