"Absence make the heart grow fonder."

"Absence make the heart grow fonder." Where does this saying come from?

The Roman poet Sextus Propertius gave us the earliest form of this saying in Elegies:
"Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows."

and, again:

"passion is always warmer towards absent lovers."

But, as one newspaper reported once pointed out, "How can you reconcile the statement that ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ with ‘Out of sight, out of mind’?"

Nay, it is not the absence which is the thing, but the end of absence, the reunion, that is the joy. An absence creates longing, desire.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."
~Proverbs 13:12

If your absent was forever, if you didn't know when you would meet again, ... well perhaps people do pine away. But a return and a reunion between peoples is a joy and often a celebration. Thats why we (my sisters and I) dance when we meet again after being away from one another.

An absence between two hearts also may reveal the level of affection. Do you miss one another? Or do you find yourself forgetting about the other? Time spent apart gives way to thoughts of the other, hopefully clear headed thoughts, undistracted thoughts. To be absent, then, is a good thing.

"Absence is to love as wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small and inflames the great."- Roger de Bussy-Rabutin.

A Call to Repentance

"Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will hear us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latteer and former rain to the earth.
~Hosea 6:1-3

Lord, have mercy.

On the fourth of July, I reflected on our country. Our fatherland. We have strayed far from where we have begun. We've left the Lord and followed Folly down the dark path. We have not remembered the Lord's commands and have not kept them. As I read Hosea this morning, I was struck at how the Lord dealt with Israel in a similar situation.

Lady Liberty, heed the voice of your fathers. Turn away from false idols and leave your harlotry. Return to the Lord who made heaven and earth. Return to the Almighty God and receive salvation.

In Patria

"And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds."
~Hosea 4:9

Lord, have mercy.

"A good name is to be chosen
rather than great riches,
Loving favor rather than silver or gold."

Proverbs 22:1

"Do not go hastily to court;
Fo what will you do in the end,
When your neighbor has put you to shame?
Debate your case with your neighbor himself,
And do not disclose the secret to another;
Lest he who hears it expose your shame,
And your reputation be ruined."

Proverbs 25:8-10