new endings

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Maria Robinson

This is the beautiful thing about hope. This is the beautiful thing about God. As long as we have breath, we can make a decision to choose what is life-giving even in the midst of difficult circumstances and a past full of regrets.

The last eight months have been a series of ups and downs with my mom. Her health is so fragile. She takes two steps forward and three steps back, or at least it seems that way. About two weeks ago, I shared that she had another stint in the hospital. It was a very hard week watching her endure several painful procedures.
Easter evening, while still in the hospital, I was sitting in a chair by her bedside reading. I looked over and she was crying. I went and sat on the side of the bed and asked her what was wrong….what was she afraid of. She said, “This process.” I asked her if she was afraid of death. She said “Yes, a little.’ That is the first time she answered me like that. She usually jokes it off but I think the recent events brought home the realization that life is tenuous.

We had the most intimate and moving conversation about how things from our past do not need to dictate our future…how there is forgiveness and grace offered and how we can be assured of God’s love. We ended our conversation with a time of prayer asking God to help us sense His presence together and thanking Him for this special time we have been able to spend since her move to PA. It really was the most amazing Easter I’ve ever had.

Do you have things in your past that you feel keep you separated from God? Is it easier to believe that nothing can change than it is to accept that even you can be loved and forgiven by God? May you take time to today to sit with God and consider what it might look like to ‘make a new ending’.

Grace and peace,
Deb