The Waiting…

As the time grows near for our family to be whole and together again, the waiting grows more unbearable!  We don’t have specifics, of course, on when Joe will be home.  We know it is supposed to be soon!  There are many details to be ironed out on both sides to prepare for his return.  I feel like the bride waiting for her husband to come steal her away in the night with no warning!  I want to be prepared for his return, so I make myself ready!  I don’t want to be spending the day of his return in a tizzy trying to get last minute preparations finished.  We plan to have a Welcome Home Party for Joe soon after he arrives.  I definitely don’t want to be shopping and planning for that in the few short days we will have here with family after Joe returns.  That would take away the joy of having him in our presence.  In other words, I don’t want to be a “Martha” in the kitchen on the day of his party.  I want to be “Mary” sitting with him and listening to his stories and just looking at him!  But so much of the planning is on hold until we find out when he will actually be here to attend his party!  So in the final days of “waiting for him” I will keep checking items of my list in anticipation of being in his arms.  I will try to do what is important and let the rest go.  I will keep my lamp burning, I will remain watchful, I look out my window (email!) for signs of his return.  It will be so sweet to be back with my love, my leader, my best friend, and my hero.

Lord, Please keep Joe safe in his final days in Iraq and travel home.  Thank You for the anticipation, it confirms our love and dedication to one another.  Thank You for love and that You give us marriage as a picture of Your love.  Your Word is so relevant and so comforting.  You teach us how it is important to be like Mary.  You promise Your return.  I wait with joyful anticipation for You and for the one You gave to me to show Your love to me on earth.  Next to You, Joe knows me better than anyone, my faults and failures.  He, like You, loves me anyway.