Distance has a way...

Nearly a week ago I was standing in the Cincinnati airport choking back tears as I turned and left Peter at the checkout counter. He's in Israel now on an archaeological dig that lasts a little over a month.

It's funny how life keeps on happenning when something very important is missing from it. My phone keeps on ringing, I go into the office everyday, the sun keeps on shining, and friends meet together just like always. The only thing missing is Peter. He's half way around the world right now and I haven't spoken to him in a week. But life goes on.

It's hard to hold in tension the fact that everything seems normal yet everything simultaneously feels like it's been turned upside down. There's this place inside of me where all the now-unspoken "I love yous" are being saved up that feels like it might bubble over and make a mess everywhere. There's also a place inside of me that is trying to do everything possible not to think about what's missing. And yet there's a place inside of me that knows this is only temporary and that it will make me and our relationship stronger. God has made His presence known in my life more in this week than in a long time. And that is comforting.

Sometimes I think that when you're away from someone you begin to learn a little more what it means to love. And maybe you're able to love more fully when you have to love someone from a distance. I am reminded by a line in a song written by the great genius of our age Jeff Tweedy: "Distance has a way of making love understandable."