(Photo taken recently in N. Ireland)
Late last night I returned from a week on the west coast. I was returning from a wonderful visit with daughter JJ in her apartment in San Francisco, and with her a visit to my brother in Arcata. We also went by Cabot Cove, of Murder She Wrote fame (actually Mendicino, on the California coast, where it was filmed). Then I flew to Seattle to visit sister Allison and mother, drive to Clarkston, on the west side of the state, to visit dear friends there. Finally I shared in a wonderful memorial tribute to a dear friend in the Calvin church. Now I am back home, and reconnecting with family until I leave in six days for Albania, where I will have the opportunity to share in the ministry of Udhekryq Bible School in Erseke. All in all the past week has been a time of connections and thanksgiving for times past, anticipation of times to come, and some grief as well.
The fact that we are constantly in a process of transitions, living with the inevitability of changes, was brought home to me about a month ago. Nancy was still in Ethiopia (she was out of the country for three months--in Ireland with me, Vietnam then Ethiopia)when we had a short but intense storm. The rain fell for about 10 minutes and a wind whipped down the swale separating our house from the neighbor's. In the morning I looked out back and a huge tree (center of first photo) was laying on its side half in and half out of the pond in our back yard. It took several men several days to haul it out and carry it away, and it has left a ragged stump and a hole where it used to be. (second photo) This hole is certainly not beautiful like the tree was, the stump is somewhat unsightly, and the spot will take time to fill. Yet in time the grass will grow again and the hole will fill in, and even now we can view and enjoy the pond more than we could before.
I don't know how old that tree was, but it was majestic and wonderful. But it is now gone and a new future is to be written. And such are transitions...They are inevitable. They can not be avoided. They can be sad, but they can open new possibilities. Dr. Seuss said it this way, Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. and I like that. As chapters in life close new chapters open. And as life itself closes a new chapter opens as well--a chapter that through faith in Christ is more wonderful than any before. That is the only true hope for life and it is the hope that God came to earth to bring...
Changes...Transitions...Old...New...In all the constant is the One who is the Alpha and the Omega. And knowing him we move through life and its stages with confidence and joy.
