YEARNING For His Return

Bramasole.

I know. That’s a ‘B’ word and we‘re on ‘Y‘ today. But it's an Italian word that came to me in the middle of a cold winter in which it aptly described my mood. It means to yearn for the sun.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the “sun” in the definition that attracted me. It was the verb.

I know what yearning looks like. I’ve seen it in the life of my young friend, Heather, whose husband of just two years was recently deployed to Afghanistan. For ten long months she has looked for, longed for, anticipated and imagined his homecoming. She has yearned for his return.

Not that she hasn’t been busy in the interim. Surrounded by a group of extremely supportive friends, she’s occupied her time with the same things that fill most young adults’ days - working, shopping, watching movies, hanging out together in restaurants and various other recreational pursuits. But always somewhere in the back of her mind she’s been dreaming of the day her soldier walks back into her life and her arms. I’ve seen it on her face in slow moments at our grocery store jobs, an unguarded look that shows her mind and heart to be a million miles away…tears on her face over another holiday spent alone…and daydream-y posts on Facebook detailing things they’ll do once he’s back in the States. That moment is never far from her thoughts.

And now that day has arrived. He’s home and she’s happy, not that she’s hugged him yet. His first stop upon his arrival was a 10-day stay at an army base in Texas. But today he’s finally headed for Ohio to be reunited with his waiting wife. We’ve been counting down the days with her at work this last week or so, agonizing with her last night as her final shift before a week’s vacation dragged by every so slowly. Today she’s headed first to the salon to have her hair done, and then she’s off to pick him up. She’s been smiling for 24 hours straight, jumps when you talk to her, and laughs at everything that’s said. I couldn’t be happier for her.

But back to bramasole. I wrote the word and its definition in the Italian Words and Phrases to be Learned section of my journal, and suddenly laughed at the result. I had mistakenly written the word sun as son.

On second thought, I realized it wasn’t an error after all. It simply flowed out of a heart that is likewise looking for the return of a loved One who has been far away for a very long time. In the dark and dreary winter that our world has become, we’re yearning for the return of the Son who is coming for his Bride and will likewise carry her away.

Heather and her bridegroom are headed to the beach for a week. We get to spend eternity with ours. I’m simply counting the days.

“You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of your Lord draws near.”
(James 5:8 MKJV)