A Foretaste

After being in lockdown mode for so long, many of us began to wonder if we knew how to relate to each other anymore.  My doctor told me this has been the worst year of his 25-year practice.  People have hidden out because of fear and also in a spirit of caution, but the toll that has been exacted may take awhile to calculate.  Family members have not been able to sit at a loved one’s bedside in the hours and moments before death.  Those who live alone have suffered both mentally and emotionally as they have been cut off from human contact.  As the song goes, “People need people”.

Once the mask mandate was lifted and most people in our area had been vaccinated, I felt free to have a birthday celebration in my home for a friend.  People came like parched plants in need of water.  They hugged and they smiled and they laughed and they shared with each other.  They made over the birthday girl and ate snacks and cake, enjoyed fresh lemonade and the patio where the bright, sunny day matched their mood and demeanor.

There was no mention of aches or pains, no discussion about race, color, creed, political divisions, religious differences.  There wasn’t a cross word or even an ounce of negativity.  They mingled with each other and relished seeing each other again.  While observing this, one might easily wonder,  “Is this heaven?”

Obviously, it wasn’t.  After a couple of hours, everyone went home, but they left refreshed and renewed.  It was nothing special that I did in hosting the event.  It was drinking in the pleasure of each other’s company.

It wasn’t heaven, but moments like those will do until we get to experience the real deal.  Imagine the reunion.  The celebration.  Being together in the presence of the One who makes it possible for us to be there.  Amazing!

“Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face…”     (1 Corinthians 13:12)