Unintentional goodbyes!

Have you ever held a conversation with someone dear to you knowing that would be your last conversation?

Have you ever interacted with someone and thought it would be your last time intermingling?

Have you ever put forth your helping hand to someone and realized that was the last time you would lend your services?

It hurts when it’s someone you love. Someone you invested your time into. Someone you can recall fond memories of. Nevertheless that’s the way life goes, huh? We send that last text not knowing it would be the last time that person name pops up in our inbox. We give that last hug. We give that last wave.

Life is full of “lasts.”

Whether we want to admit it or not, those last moments leave an imprint on our hearts. A print so deep that we begin to build walls in an effort to keep people out, so they also won’t be apart of our “lasts.” We go through life with these spectacles on, sizing everyone up and seeing if they have certain qualities or not to become worth our precious time. Seeing if they are worth our laughter, tears, or words. Will everyone measure up? Of course not. That is why so many people end up on our “last list” unintentionally. Because no one seems to make the effort anymore. It seems as if people don’t realize relationships are two sided. Relationships are a team effort.

You cannot continue to pour out into people and not be replenished yourself-you will drain yourself. Sometimes goodbyes are needed and sometimes all you have to do is express the situation and things change. Some people are in your life for a season, a specific purpose, then they are gone. Others are in our lives for a lifetime.

There is a quote that says, “There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will. So don’t worry about the people from your past, there’s a reason they didn’t make it into your future.”

Life has twists and turns that are often unexpected. An effort for us to reach out and control them often leads us to make a complete U-turn. That U-turn is not the place we want to be. We have to begin to let people take their proper place in our life and stop trying to make things happen.

I will try where effort is necessary and let go when the time is right.

I hope you do the same.

AK