The Next Chapter!

Though life is uniquely different for each of us, in most ways, it is fairly the same. We rise up at the start of the day and lie down when it is over. We eat our meals and drink our beverage that supplies our nutrition and strength. We do chores, like the laundry, cleaning the house, cutting the lawn, or going to the market. Many of us have jobs that we work to earn an income. On the flip side, there are those who have retired and are now slowing their pace and looking to find a little leisure in the ‘golden years’. It is true that we are all part of a world where life works and runs the same in some sort of manner that resembles one-another. I like to think of our lives as a book. Each person, having a story that is very much different, but yet, it is the same sort of book. As these books are opened, we see that there are chapters that define the characteristics that make these books special to the person’s story. The thing about chapters is that they open and close a segment of our lives. I recall different chapters of my life that opened and closed as time progressed. I cannot recall the first day of kindergarten, but I do remember graduating from high school. Thus, a chapter in my life closed. I remember the very first job I had when I was sixteen, washing dishes and busing tables at a local restaurant. Thus, a chapter began. Some of the more enjoyable chapters have been when I started my marriage with Deb and becoming a parent to my kids. Then, there are the closing of some chapters that were not as celebrated. I recall my parents being ill and passing on as, well as, losing other dear friends and loved ones. Even our relocation to the Lehigh Valley to minister to the Banger Nazarene Church has been bitter-sweet. We left a life in South Jersey as we closed our work there to embark on our mission here; beginning a new chapter in the lives of the Williams family. Even here within the past few days, we have had to say “Goodbye” to our house in Jersey that we custom built with our own hands and with the help of my brothers and father. Though there are many, many memories, the time to turn the page came due. It is the way of things in life. Every book has its chapters and when one closes, another will open. It is the way that God has designed our lives. Not much stays the same, as things do change. This reminds me of the passage from Ecclesiastes 3 saying,

¹    There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
²    a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³    a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace”.

I think each of us can embrace the positive aspects of this passage as it recites things like “new-birth, healing, building, laughing, dancing and loving”. On the flip side, there are the things that are not so attractive. “Death, killing, weeping, morning, war and hating” are aspects of life that lead us to look away or even resist those realities. Regardless of how we feel about life and its contents, we all travel through the good and the bad. We all start new chapters and close others. The important thing to remember is that it is all a part of God’s plan for our lives. Additionally, there are no difficulties about life that God cannot see us through. There is no need to dread as we anticipate what great thing God will do. As we consider the book that is our lives, remember the words from Ephesians 3:20-21.

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