Separation

 I entered the supermarket with my children. “This is going to be quick, guys. We have fifteen minutes.” I sent my son and daughter down the aisle to get snacks. Two aisles later, they met up with me. They trailed behind as I quickly moved up one aisle and down the next. The children kept up—or so I thought.

 Moving into the next aisle, I thought that my son was right behind me. When I realized that he wasn’t, I told my daughter to look for him. She came back empty-handed. I thought, Keep moving; he’ll catch up with us. I arrived at the checkout line—still, no son. I told my daughter to wait with the shopping cart while I went to look for him. Up and down each aisle I went. As I came back up the aisle, I heard over the store’s loudspeaker, “Would Dana please come to the front. Your child is waiting for you.” When I reached the front of the store, there my son stood with the floor manager. Guyen held two bags of popcorn. He had been right behind me until he stopped to get the popcorn without telling me. Then he went bravely to the front of the store to tell the manager his mommy’s name.

As you can imagine, he was very upset about being separated from his mother. Why wouldn’t he be? Of course, what was only a few minutes of confusion to us seemed like a lifetime to my son.

 As I thought about this experience, I remembered that God endured separation as well. He was separated from His Son when He sent Him to earth to be born as our Savior. Then God the Father was again separated from His Son when His Only Begotten gave His life for us. The Son experienced the pain of separation as well. Ellen White wrote, “He who had been one with God, felt in His soul the awful separation that sin makes between God and man.”*

 There is a happy ending. Our physical separation from God will soon end. He is coming back to take us home with Him forever. No more tears of pain. I can’t wait!

Dana M. Bassett Bean