Last week my wife and I drove through the southern states hit by Hurricane Isaac. No, we didn’t plan to drive into the area right behind the hurricane just so that we could enjoy the rainstorms for our entire roadtrip. It just happened that way. Our lease ended and we had to move back south.

On the long drive, we made lots of pit stops. We stopped for gas. We stopped to eat. Sometimes we just stopped to stretch.

One of our stops was at a deli in Jackson, Mississippi — we’d finally made it far enough south to get some good, authentic sweet tea! While we sat down and waited for our food to be cooked and put in a to-go bag, a group of older gentlemen walked in. Each had white hair and years of wisdom, but I was intrigued by their matching shirts and badges (almost like the Boy Scouts for retired men).
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Dear Darling Wife,

Thank you for forgiving me when I am selfish. Marriage has shown me how quick I am to take care of myself, how quick I am to prefer myself over you. I am so sorry.

I am forever grateful that God redeemed me once and forgives me daily, that He promises me salvation and sanctification. Each day, you and I become more like Christ, by God’s grace. But today I’m still selfish.

So thank you for forgiving me today. And yesterday. And tomorrow. Thank you for forgiving me when I am selfish, and trusting me to love you better.

I love you, and I am forever grateful for your patient love.

—

Photo Credit: jojo (Creative Commons)

I’m nearing the end of Marilynne Robinson’s new book, Home. I count Gilead, one of her other stories, as one of my favorites, and Home has certainly not disappointed. Once I’ve finished it, I’ll write about the book in more detail, but for now I want to highlight one excerpt:

That odd capacity for destitution, as if by nature we ought to have so much more than nature gives us. As if we are shockingly unclothed when we lack the complacencies of ordinary life. In destitution, even of feeling or purpose, a human being is more hauntingly human and vulnerable to kindnesses because there is the sense that things should be otherwise, and then the thought of what is wanting and what alleviation would be, and how the soul could be put at ease, restored. At home.

And she’s absolutely right. Aren’t we always holding on to “the thought of what is wanting…and how the soul could be put at ease”?

It is only human that we can never shake the lingering feeling that there is supposed to be much more to life than what we have right now.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

- Romans 8:22-23, NASB

So don’t let that lingering feeling go. Remember that we were made to be redeemed. We are supposed to groan within ourselves, waiting for the day when the soul will be put at ease. Restored. Home.

This is a repeat post, because we have had friends visiting. This was originally posted on Dec. 18, 2008