Forever and ever and ever. Amen.

I don’t believe in forever anymore.

 

“Forever and always.”  “Forever and ever and ever.”  Used to, that was the ultimate way to seal the deal.  But things happen.  Circumstances unforeseen come along and slap us down.  Situations change.  And forever isn’t forever anymore.

But is that a bad thing?  I don’t think so.  Because if the good things don’t last forever, neither do the bad.  Yes, the ice cream is sweet and cool and delectable.  But if you don’t lick fast enough, it’s a sticky, melted mess.  It doesn’t last forever.  You enjoy it while you have it and remember it when it’s gone.  (If it’s Better Batter from Maggie Moo’s, you remember it a long, long time.)

It’s the same way with the bad stuff.  It hurts a while. It hurts bad.  It hurts a long while.  But it eases.  And something takes its place.  And there are new ice cream flavors, like Blue Bell’s Kooky Kookie.  (Yum).

I read a book this week which included this passage about waves.  “Bad things are like waves.  They’re going to happen to you and there’s nothing you can do about it.  They’re part of life, like waves are part of the ocean.  If you’re standing on the shoreline, you don’t know when the waves are coming.  But they’ll come. You gotta  make sure you get back to the surface after every wave.”  -- Look Twice by Lisa Scottoline. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said it too, a longer time ago.  
"The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands.
And the tide rises, the tide falls."

When things go off the course we’ve planned, we have choices.  We can adjust the sails or we can sink in our misery.  But life does indeed go on.

And I think it’s just all right that forever isn’t forever any more.