Endings

Endings

     It’s a month of endings; school’s out, graduations are here, and Spring weather is a fond memory.  We have so many expressions for endings: 

Happy Endings

Surprise Endings

The End’s in Sight

End of an Era

End of a Dream

Unresolved Endings

Final Endings

     Some of these endings are sweet.  Some are painful or bittersweet.  Some leave us wondering.  Some are, well, so final.  Just this week a good friend lost her mom.

     It’s the human condition that we want answers, resolution, completion.  The ending isn’t always happy, often not a surprise, maybe overdue, perhaps closes a chapter in life or forces us to change direction, embrace the unknown, or it means saying good-bye forever.

     This year I had the opportunity to see the end of a story, and fortunately it’s a happy ending.  I mentor a young girl in the foster care system.   She was placed with a foster family, was legally severed from her bio parents after a year and a half, and is now being adopted by this same family. 

     There are many “endings” in this story.  Besides ending the unsafe relationship with her bio parents, there’s the end to instability, and the end to court dates and social workers.

     I’m sharing this, because in just a few days, this young lady will go to court to be adopted into her new family.   I was glad to be a part of this journey, and I will continue to keep in touch with her on a less formal basis.  She will mark her fresh start with a new name.

     Happy endings can’t always be predicted in the beginning, and oftentimes we get no answer or resolution.  In terms of Arizona’s foster care kids, 18,000 of them have no permanent placement.  Some of them may eventually be returned to their parents or relatives, some enter into guardianship arrangements, some get adopted, and some actually age out of the system. 

     What’s the end of your story, or whatever situation you’re in now?  Are you hoping for a happy ending?  Are you praying, please, God, no more “surprises?”  Do you just want something to be done and over with…an end to pain, an end to emotional suffering, an end to a problem?  Maybe a dream has perished, and you need God’s redirection in life.  Perhaps you’re in the midst of an unresolved ending…a wayward spouse, a prodigal child, a prayer not answered, yet.  Unfortunately, you could find yourself bedside saying good-bye to a loved one, and while you pray for an end to suffering, you plead with God, “not yet.” 

     Ecclesiastes 3:11 encourages us, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”  We only know part of the story.  God knows it all, the beginning, the middle, and the end.  Our minds can’t comprehend it.  God is the author of our lives, and in that, we can trust that He has every word, every sentence, every chapter, and every story written in His hand and His time.