The Final Wave

We were eating dinner on our deck and reminiscing.
We were talking about our early married years.
The little bit we had in our bank account, renting our first apartment.
Moving into our first house with very little furniture.
The sweetest time of our lives.

All couples, who are married many years, remember that time fondly.
All young couples, just beginning their journey, find it hard to believe.
In the age of I want it all yesterday…it is hard to imagine that you have to wait.
Wait for even the simplest things.
Waiting is sweet.

I used to pack my husband’s lunch when we were first married.
Being an engineer in a power plant he enjoyed having home cooking.
It was also economical, too.

There are videos of our oldest daughter getting his lunch, and sending him off to work.
He loved it!
Habits were formed.
We would stand at the door and wave goodbye.

To this day, almost thirty-two years later, I still stand at the door and wave.
My husband does not bring a lunch from home anymore, but he still gets that final wave.

Do I have to do that?
No…but I want to!
It is out of respect, gratitude, and appreciation that I stand and wave.
He goes off every day, for all these years, working hard for our family.
That send off is important.

I wait until he pulls up the driveway and without fail, he always turns and looks.
I am there.
I really believe that wave has helped him each day.

When my children took the bus to school, I stood at the door for them as well.
That wave was important…and they began to look for it.
The wave changed as they got older…becoming a little glance in my direction.
The enthusiastic grade school wave was long gone…there was still the look and the smile.
Our own secret language.

Those little extra things you do for the ones you love are tucked in their hearts.
The I don’t have to…but I want to things you do, tell them they are special.

The apostle Paul worked in the city of Ephesus longer than any other city.
Paul was preparing to go to Jerusalem…imprisonment and trials waiting for him there.
Paul called the elders to the city of Miletus for a final, emotional farewell.

“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again…Now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. (Acts 20:24,25,32-38)

Can you see Paul and all the elders kneeling on the sand?
Praying and crying…embracing and kissing him goodbye.
I am sure there was one final wave.
The picture of his beloved friends waving as he set sail, was firmly engraved on his heart.

As it should be!
Paul was worth those few extra minutes.
Paul was sent off well.

We never think about the little things we do and how much they mean to someone else.
The most precious memories we have are the memories of the little things.
The private moments, the touch of the hand, the gaze across the room.
The final wave.

Be intentional in the little things.
We will look back and realize they were the big things!

One day, we will all be sent off with a Final Wave.
That wave will send us into eternity.
We will be either in Heaven with our Lord…or in Hell without Him.

Oh, that the Gospel has taken root.
Oh, that trust has been placed in Jesus alone for salvation.

As believers in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we know we will see each other again.
We have surety and confidence because we trust in His Word and His promises.

From an unknown author are these words that remind me of the final wave.
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she lands like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where?
Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the next destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There! She’s gone,” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There she comes!”

We do not know the day of that Final Wave.
If we have trusted in Jesus for our salvation, we know there are many waiting on the other side.
They are ready to shout, “There she comes!”

Are you ready for that Final Wave?