The end of a thing…

The smile on my face whimpers away when I hear the expression, “All good things must come to an end!” Nobody truly likes hearing that as it is never easy breaking free from the grip of that which has kept our gaze squarely transfixed for a given time. Yet as the screeching sound of the closing door of the past slams shut behind me, the eerie cold hand of the unknown stretches out its hand to lay hold of the central chamber of my heart and mind. It is never easy to leave the familiar surroundings of a near perfect place which actually became a well decorated comfort zone in my life. Now the door staring me in the eye beckons me to cross its threshold to lay hold of a copious number of a myriad of blessings God has prepared for me. Life has been a stern educator, yet teaching me that the end of a thing is better than the beginning of anything.

The end or latter of a thing is the custodian of valuable secrets. Before it delivers any person to the door of the unknown, it whispers eternal truths about us to the time to come. It makes known that God’s Spirit will hover over our beginning just as He did over the mass of deep dark water before earth saw birth to His brilliant light. The end must give way to a beginning and wait its turn to usher us into the courtyard of the road that leads to our glorious destiny. There God waits for us to crown our heads with the richness of His majesty and fill our hearts to overflowing.

I have learnt that for in every heart wrenching goodbye lies the promise of a welcoming hello, be it in this life or beyond. Every gate that closes opens ways to a path often not tread before. That once a wheel stops turning it brings our vehicle to a place where a visitation is considered paramount. It makes me understand that the end of one chapter gives an opportunity to venture onto a new page with its own remarkable adventure. I see the last crust of bread in my breadbasket as a miraculous way for God to fill my pantry with that which is new and scrumptiously fresh. I see any person at the end of their tether being rescued by Almighty God and brought to safety at a pit-stop called New Hope.

As each day draws to the proverbial end, I look ahead to a new beginning. For though I cannot see what my future holds, I know that God has promised that the glory of the latter will exceed the glory of the former. I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the end is not meant to be a solemn affair. It simply serves as God’s faithful chaperone to bring me closer to where I want to be… to the One who is the Beginning and my very End.

Eyes have not seen

As I awoke this morning I dragged my tired body to the refreshing atmosphere of the bathroom. It certainly was refreshing as the brisk breeze flirted gently with the blinds on the bathroom window whispered a good morning to me as I stood in front of the mirror. I looked at my own reflection in the mirror and suddenly my eyes met the puffiness under the eyes of the man in the mirror. I was not in the mood to laugh, but it was if my brain tried to humor me by suggesting that I needed some Nivea DNAge Q10. I tried to stretch the unwilling muscles in my face to form a fake smile, but they clearly seemed to have gotten up on the wrong side of bed this morning.

My eyes met the eyes staring back at me from the mirror. They were red and sore, puffy bags lie just beneath them. As I stood looking at myself and tried to force myself to wake up so I could get ready to drop my daughter at school, I realized something. I realized that yesterday my eyes had witnessed the good and also the inevitable bad, splashed on the canvas of life. I not only saw the lives of others acted out on the multiple tier stage of life, but I saw my own responses to it and ultimately my own life, flash before me. Yet, just after midnight I drifted off into what is known as sleep and I said good bye to the reality of my yesterday. Today, my eyes have not yet seen the moments of internal and external change that God has prepared for me. I have not yet seen the smile of my son, as his face lights up when he sees the man that in his six month old brain he calls Dad. I haven’t seen the face of my daughter looking back at me from the breakfast table. What I have not seen is the one I call “My heart” looking back at me in a quiet gaze as she gives me our three-part kiss which translates into “I love you.” When I opened my eyes this morning they were prophets of an awesome God, proclaiming “His mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.”

What I realized this morning in front of the mirror was that while physically I was experiencing the remains of the day gone by, I was yet to “Taste and see that God is good.” That while I was sleeping God was orchestrating a display of His splendor for what mine eyes have not yet seen. As I turned away from the mirror I looked into the smiling face of my daughter. It dawned on me how I have not only changed my position from where I stood in front of the mirror, but I had also changed my focus. That which I now saw through the lens of my eyes brought a willing smile to my face. I walked past my nine-year old daughter and my eyes said to me, “let’s go and see what else He has in store for you today…”