We are at the end of another school year. Some students have finished out their final days at the school they were attending. Graduating and moving on to the next chapter. It is a very bittersweet time for so many.
It is the closing of a chapter. Things will never be exactly as they were this past school year or any year for that matter. That thought was always difficult for me when teaching, changing jobs, ending a vacation, or seeing friends or family leave. Knowing that what has just happened is passing and will not be duplicated exactly again. The relationships that were built may look totally different in the next season of life. There were friends from high school I would never hang out with again. Friendships that were made in college or at work that would distance would hinder. Memories at vacation that you just wanted to have again, exactly the same way, but it was never possible to fully duplicate it. Things will never be the same again. Change was and is hard. It is not easy leaving the former time.
What if we saw the closing of chapters as something different. What if we saw each day, every memory as something different. Something that did not come in to our life, make an impact, and now is gone to no longer effect it. But instead see the lasting impact of all relationships and memories.
Take a moment to look at the picture below. An example of our life. Think of the adjectives you get from this picture and they correlate with seasons of life in so many ways. Choatic. Colorful. Beautiful. Ugly. Peaceful. Stressful. Dark. Light.
This picture is the back of a tapestry. Each piece of thread has a purpose. From the back it is hard to see that.
The friendships made in Kindergarten. The teachers who made an imprint on your life in Elementary school. The memories made in Middle School with good and bad decisions. High School relationships with all of their ups and downs. College memories. Life changing decisions. Career moves. Tragedies. New life coming in to the world. Life being taken from the world. Vacations. Neighbors moving in and moving out. Days of extreme highs and days of the lowest of lows. Friendships that blossom and some that fade.
Every interaction, every memory is another thread added to our tapestry, our life.
When a chapter is closing in our life, I must remember that it has already left its mark. The thread has been added to my life. So the friendships may look different. The next chapter may be new. But the old ones have left their mark and God is turning it in to something so beautiful.
I wish we were able to flip over the tapestry and see the work completed and the beauty God made through it. That day will come. But in the mean time, we can flip over and see some of the beauty that is already being pieced together.
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds." -Psalm 77: 11-12
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ -Acts 17: 26-28
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. -Ecclesiastes 3:1-3
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11
God is working in your life. He is piecing together the different chapters into a masterpiece. And that is what makes the next season so exciting. What is God going to do next? How will he turn the good and bad into the most beautiful life we could imagine? The sadness of the ending of a chapter still remains, but the joy and excitment for what he has before us is what we must press into.
Today, he is adding another thread to your tapestry.
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