This is my first time ever posting on a blog. So, please, all you experienced bloggers, bear with me.
Good-bye. Nobody really likes that word. Why? It means change; it means seperation. It means a disconnection from what we had held as dear. Yet why is it so painful? I've recently begun thinking about good-byes. But I've been wondering if there's a deeper reason why the human race tries to avoid good-byes.
In the beginning, man was created and lived in communion with God. Then God created woman as a suitable companion. And for who knows how long, man and woman lived in constant fellowship with God. However, mankind sinned and fell from his state of friend of God. That was the first good-bye of man. God said good-bye to his most treasured creation. Man said good-bye to his Creator and first friend. Before the fall, there had been no such thing as good-bye in the knowledge of man.
From that time to now, good-bye has been used over and over and over. And, except in special cases, they have been very painful. They are painful, in my thoughts, because the first good-bye of man was painful. It was never supposed to be. That is why, therefore, we rejoice over the news of Christ's coming to stay with us forevermore.
Such are my thoughts. Let me know what yours are, if you care to disclose them.
3 comments:
YAY ARIEL! Welcome to the wonderful world of Blogs. =D Okay, goodbyes, my mind immediately leaps to Frodo at the end of LOTR. Why does he have to say goodbye? Also, if you've read A Severe Mercy, C.S. Lewis says something interesting (I paraphrase), "Christians NEVER say goodbye". =] Is this statement true? What special cases were you refering to when you said that some goodbyes are not painful? Thank you for the thought provoking post!
When I said special cases, I meant ones like where a person has been abused or mistreated and is happy to be leaving. If my memory serves me, Frodo had to say good-bye because he had done his part to help Middle-Earth and it was over. His time had come to leave. And maybe Lewis said, paraphrased, that "Christians NEVER say goodbye" is because we all know we will see each other again in heaven. And thank you belatedly for the welcome to the blogging world.
So by your idea, Ariel, it seems that good-byes are painful insofar as there is something bad that parts two or more people. Is that correct? Further, could you comment on whether you think there are situations, not including negative circumstances, wherein a good-bye would not be a sad thing?
Gabriel, I think you are on to something there with the Vanauken's quoting of Lewis. Between Christians, is there ever a true and lasting goodbye? Or is it more apt for us to say, "Until we meet again." ?
Just a thought.
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