Ends and beginnings
Every end is a beginning. And every beginning is an end.
Yesterday we moved out the oldest daughter into her freshman dorm room. It was quite a mixed experience of emotions, to say the least. We are proud, sorrowful, excited, wary, and everything in between. I snapped a picture of this sidewalk in town as it reminded me of the whole process. Even when something ends, it also means that something else is beginning. One path might end but there are new things on the other side.
The birth of a first born child marks the end of the part of a couples life. But it's the beginning of a whole new set of exciting challenges. The end of the high school years is the beginning of a new set of milestones. Even the end of a life represents the beginning of a new time for those left behind.
Beginnings are exciting, but they are scary too. Who knows what is going to happen on the other side? As we face our own changes in life, our own endings and beginnings, we find those same feelings of fear, change, excitement, or even anger.
Christians are able to face change with great certainty. But our certainty is not in what is on the other side, but who is on the other side. This might be the beginning of something new for my family, but it won't be the last. You too are facing beginning and ends in your life. I don't know what the next steps will be like for you. But there is one thing I'm sure of: Our future in the world might be uncertain, but our future in Christ is not.
