Concluding a Chapter

Change has been such a constant in my life, like most of you I am sure.  Just about the time I think I have perfected my schedule, relationships and so on – well, they change.  Most of the time with plenty of warning yet still so unexpectedly.

I am a wimp to change.  My reaction nine times out of ten is the same one I had as a seven-year old girl.  I cry a little at first, then pull some crazy sour grapes rationale out of the air until I end on some Pollyanna, nonsensical mantra that I pour out to everyone in hopes that one day I will believe it.

I think this time I am going to pull up my big girl pants and attempt a new philosophy, “I am concluding a chapter.”

We all have concluded many chapters.  Lost loved ones, changed jobs, broke up with the opposite sex – whatever, doesn’t matter what the content is the feeling is usually the same. We can stop and reflect, pull out the memories we want to save, pull out the memories that require forgiveness, and pull up to the bar or pew in conversation.

The chapter I am finishing has been a beautiful chapter about people, programs and a building – a church.

As a newly married couple, my husband and I found ourselves on the back row of a church quietly easing into the body one conversation at a time.

Over the years, each sermon hit closer to home.  Some sermons and relationships actually caused our course to change.

People, being woven into our lives, became our friends – brothers and sisters in Christ and in life.

Each year holding memories that are burned in my heart and soul forever.  Memories of being the first-ever Kindergarten teacher at the preschool.  Memories of studies upstairs, coffee talks downstairs, updates on loved ones in the halls – memories made all over the building.

Watching our friends marry one another.

Two funerals, burying both dads and celebrating each of their lives in the same chapel surrounded by love, service and most importantly – my friends.

I could write a whole, lengthy chapter of all of the shaping, molding and imitating of wonderful people in that building, but I won’t because most blog readers like it quick and swift with a point.

Well, the point is this:  Wherever you are in your life, whatever you may be concluding – finish well and read it until the full chapter is finished.  Then, and only then, can you look back with gratitude for the characters, and appreciation for the wisdom gained, and hopefully – laughs and lots of ‘em.