I last posted in my blog in June 2010.
I have wanted to
restart for some time and for various reasons it never seemed to happen. I’m
starting today – a new beginning with a dialog about endings. I don’t know if I
will do this every day .
I do have
a dream that I might find a “theme”, “re-brand” my blog, write regularly with some methods that could lead to a small amount of revenue –
but that remains to be seen.
For now we’ll just stumble along on meandering “Whitfield’s
journey” with more personal topics based on the events
of the day.
I pray that these rambling walks may have some value to someone..
My personal them that I’ve
(re)set for 2013 is captured in the following statement
I will live today in the
moment. I will live today as if it were my last day here on this earth and I will dream and plan today for tomorrow
because “Today is the first day of the
rest of my life; I will rejoice and be glad in it” (cf.Psalm
118:24-KJV)
I’ve labelled this post beginnings and endings because
--- as my “theme song”
for this year says I want always to
remember “that each day, each moment is
a beginning, an
opportunity, a new breath, a new step, a new relationship is be formed, in this
moment, in this beginning.
----- It seems my life has increasingly been filled with endings and that is really
the focus of this "Beginnings and Endings" post
2011
June: one of my oldest friends (not in years but in length of
time we had been friends) died suddenly of a heart attack. We had become friends in high school, we
double dated. I was his best man in June
1966 and he was my best man in September that same year. An ending and a loss
August: My younger brother died waiting for a heart transplant.
My best friend. My “go to” person. An
ending and a loss -- a “broken circle” –
the first of eight in my family to die.
Throughout the year several other friends and acquaintances died. – it seemed funerals where an every week
event. So many endings.
2012
August: My Dad died.
It was a blessing. He was done with this world and got
to go home and I miss him (the man that he was before age
took his mind before it took his body). The end of an era – the last of
the eight offspring raised by my grandparents.
August: A fellow elder, close friend and another of my “go
to” people died suddenly – he was only a couple of years older than me.
December: Another “pioneer” – the man who owned the farm next to the one
where I was born – a leader in the
church where I grew up – died after a
lengthy illness. The last of a generation of men (that included my father) who
had built up the church their parents and grandparents had started at North Livingston and they were instrumental in making to move to a new
building in Thessalon. The end of
another era.
And as in 2011 many other friends and acquaintances, former
neighbors died. The “regular” attendance funerals and visitations continued and even
seemed to increase.
2013
I have already attended the funeral of a long time member
and very dear sister (and cousin) at the
Pinehill church and yesterday another of
my “peers” died - I wrote this on his daughter’s facebook page
“ Your
dad was part of the "gang" (a year or so younger) that I grew up with
at the old North Livingston church”. And yesterday we learned of the death of the daughter (who was our age) of another dear
couple -who are a long time members at the Pinehill church. More endings.
So what’s the point?
Well for me, these endings along with some other things that have been
happening in my life have given me a renewed and clearer understanding of the
temporary and fleeting nature of our life here on this earth.
As James says (1:9-11 ESV)
“Let the lowly brother
boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower
of the grass[c] he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its
scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty
perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”
There’s more to be said so I’ll need to do
at least one more post – tomorrow!!
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