“Pass the gravy!”brings back all the warm and fuzzies from childhood holidays, running and playing by the channel of water off The Reservoir in Mississippi at my grandmother’s or riding bikes in the Delta at my Aunt and Uncle’s with my cousins in the summer. Next, my mind roams forward a couple of decades with my own kids at our home with all of our parents who live or lived in town and siblings there and little cousins running around with bliss or not, tattling on each other and then making up, learning life lessons together, laughing, eating, and ahhhh, what sweet memories. Other holidays we would be at my husband’s family where the kids had the full run of many acres with more cousins and bonfires and four wheelers and time spent with family we all missed so much because of the miles that separate us.

Do you have people in your life who are far away and you miss them like crazy? Do you absolutely abhor the miles that separate you like I do with my son, daughter-in-love, and grandson who are as far away as you can get without falling off into the Pacific Ocean?! Or maybe you have those you love who are right around the corner, across town, or in the same house with you yet they are “miles away”. Maybe they seem even farther away than my kids in Cali? What to do about those?

Whether you get to pass the gravy at holidays with those you love or don’t because of miles between you or distance due to relational strain or loss because they have gone on ahead of you to heaven, how do you process it? How do you handle it? I wanted to share a thought I recently had regarding those I so miss with whom life or new jobs or moving or situations have created distance, strain, or utter loss.

I just got this picture of people who have come and gone out of my life that I wish were still around to “pass the gravy” with. I thought of course of my parents who are both in heaven now and then also old friends even as far back as from high school. I started thinking of situations that have caused us to lose touch with people I love very much. Just before sadness set in, this glimpse of glory got me thinking right. Instead of a pity party like has commenced other times when I happened upon this place in my thoughts, I found myself like a kid looking forward to Christmas. I got a real revelation of how short this life is. We can mourn over those who have rejected or betrayed us or claim we have done so to them. We can sulk over the loss of loved ones who are no longer here on Earth with us. We can feel sorry for ourselves or try tirelessly to fix things that obviously we cannot fix. Or we can relax and trust God with it and get a glimpse of glory of us all “passing the gravy” on the other side.

Guess what, strife, division, unforgiveness, and all that yucky stuff we deal with down here will not be there and whether they like it or not here, we will all be “passing the gravy” laughing and enjoying each other for all of eternity. We won’t be fighting over doctrinal differences for those of us spiritual giants who know so much we can’t even get along down here lol We won’t be holding grudges that need to be dropped and forgiven but just can’t seem to be. We will be free and happy and filled with love toward each other. We will be in the presence of almighty God and none of that horrible stuff will be there. We will be focused on worshipping God and none of this petty stuff from this ball of mud we worry about now will even matter.

Isn’t that a great picture? Focus on that and for the joy set before us, we can endure this down here as did Jesus… for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross! Eternity is a long time and it will trump all of this world’s troubles!

Happy Monday!