Distance and the Mountain Madness

Along those lines of being with the one you love whoever said "Absence makes thy heart grow fonder" was never in a long distance relationship for over a week. With all those ski lift rides I had enough time to contemplate those words. Many years ago my youth pastor was talking about relationships and at that time I could care less about things like boyfriends but some of his words stuck with me. When talking about the above quote he added on "absence makes the heart wonder" and I've been pondering both lines and thinking about which is truer. This past weekend I've decided that the second is the most accurate. While riding the ski lift I was thinking about Lee and how I was kind of "forgetting" things about him since I haven't seen him in so long. I've forgotten his smell, his facial hair, his laugh. Then I was thinking about the same scenario with God and how I've been "forgetting" things about Him. It's so much harder to love someone I've never had physical contact with, just descriptions from the Bible and seeing the effects of other people's relationships with Him. Once I've authentically connected with my Lord, the relationship took a turn and I could think of Him as a person I see and talk with everyday. But once I allowed sin to start taking over my heart and my spiritual disciplines started to go by the wayside, it was like we separated. God went to Africa and left me in Kansas alone. I start to forget about His characteristics that made me fall in love with Him in the first place and start to think about only myself and how I can survive alone. I've forgotten about how much He loves me with an intimate, never-ending love. How He provides everyday for me physically and emotionally. How He blesses me even when I forget about Him. Just as I forget about Lee some days, going the whole day without speaking to Him, I loose connection with God. My heart wonders to other things like TV, facebook, being bitter and pessimistic, dwelling on the past, and making stupid decisions. Distance, SIN, makes the heart wonder and makes you forget about the love that really matters! This is my goal, to draw closer to my Creator so that when Lee and I finally see each other my priorities are in line and I can love him with a spiritual love and not a self-pleasing lust (because love is not self-pleasing).