Endings & Beginnings

Scheherazade was perhaps the best storyteller ever. She became the best storyteller out of necessity. Marriage to King Shahryar, the sultan, was not an easy life, but it was always a short life. The king, governing an unnamed island between India and China, believed he had been betrayed by his wife and so had her executed. Ever since that day, the king would marry a new woman in the evening and have her executed at dawn. This way, he thought, he could never be betrayed again. Now Scheherazade became his bride. And in the evening, she began telling him a story, a story filled with intrigue and mystery, a story that had no real ending, a story that went on and on until dawn. For the next 1001 nights, she told king Shahryar stories, spinning yarns until he fell in love with her and realized she would never betray him.

I like the Scheherazade stories. I like how one story ends with the beginning of a new one. 1001 Arabian Nights, known in Arabic as Alf Layla wa Layla, is a extraordinary collection of fables, tales, and stories which appear to reach an ending only to commence again. I like the stories because they remind me of this time of year, which is so filled with endings and beginnings. For us, sometimes the endings and beginnings are so closely linked together that while an apparent ending is taking place, a new beginning is starting up.

This week our youngest child moved back to college and began his sophomore year at WVU, ending a summer of working in the community library. Today our oldest daughter is moving back to law school after returning from summer study in Israel. Both are leaving their summer's behind and are returning to their school which is familiar to them. And yet, it unfamiliar as well, since each is starting a brand new beginning. Matt has ever been a sophomore at WVU and Sarah has never been a second year law student in Ada, Ohio. Each is now exploring uncharted waters. The unknown can be so scary.

While new beginnings are truly new to us, GOD’s love for us is not new. GOD has promised that He has a plan for us. The prophet, Jeremiah, addressing a group of scared and frightened people reminded them that GOD has a plan for them. In Jeremiah 29:11 it is recorded, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The prophetic words of Jeremiah are not just for the hurting people of Israel, but for all our graduates. These are also powerful words for every one of us. Every evening puts an end to an old day and each morning brings a new beginning, a new day filled with promise, a new day filled with hope. All this is because GOD has a plan for each of us - a plan to prosper us, a plan to give us hope. God has a plan for our future.

Back in 1978, a video series was produced by the United Methodist Church, titled Begin with Goodbye. This series talked about saying goodbye to one area of your life before beginning another. A family moving away from their old, familiar home, a construction worker laid off, a teacher retiring, a wife grieving the loss of husband, a student graduating from school, are all situations where we must say goodbye before we can move on. We celebrate the past and we move confidently and joyfully into the future God has prepared for us.