“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” – John 13:34-35
Yesterday the focus of my post was the 49 years Rebekah and I have been dating (Standing in Love). Today I can’t help but think about so many of the people who have stood with us, and how the good soil we are rooted in, together, does so much to keep us strong.
This photograph was taken at dinner Wednesday evening with Cindy and Steve Brittain, along with Faye and Jerry Price. We have enjoyed many such occasions with literally dozens of friends in Tarboro and look forward to many more. After two years here we are not just planted together, our roots have spread out and joined; we are – just like the trees in the forest – literally holding one-another up.
This is why it is so hard – I believe – when people leave. It’s not just that we love each other, we are actually part of one-another.
So we have to say goodbye to Faye and Jerry, who have been integral to the town of Tarboro and the Presbyterian Church for five decades. Their open and generous hearts took us in the moment we arrived and, like so many in this community, they accepted us completely and graciously.
When we were young, Rebekah and I loved our Pensacola home – then left when we were forty. We loved Brandon deeply for seventeen years before moving to Wake Forest. Then, just over two years ago, we made our way here to Tarboro. So now, having said goodbye to too many amazing people over the years, we believe it’s time for a “nobody moves away” rule.
This is why I say that a key reason Rebekah and I have been able to “stand in love” these 49 years is those who stand with us, those with roots that have grown together with ours, those who are nourished from the common good soil of both faith and community.
The photograph may not show it, but our roots are all wound together, and it hurts when some of them get yanked out.
Grateful for community, for the love that we know, and the faith that makes it strong – DEREK