Follow Pink Shoes Ministries on WordPress.com

Rose from ashesI sit at the kitchen table, slowly addressing the huge stack of graduation announcements for my son. My youngest, who ten minutes ago still needed me to lay down beside him at bedtime so that he could fall asleep. I look at the young man in the photos as I stuff cards into envelopes and I’m genuinely mystified as to where the time has gone. This parenting adventure, though overrated at times, has been more sweet than bitter and I’m suddenly aware of just how difficult it’s going to be to let go. I can’t believe we’re down to the last month of high school – and childhood’s end.

Sitting across from her, I can’t help but see the toll this cancer has taken. It’s a short visit, but it feels infinitely more important than any face-time we’ve ever had before. We sing, we pray, we talk, we laugh, and all the while I’m crying tears on the inside, fully aware of how surreal these moments are. And how holy this space is. And how ill-prepared we are for life to end.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? I wasn’t either, but today it isn’t a stretch for me to imagine how Jesus’ family of followers felt as the horrific events of “good” Friday played out. No one wants what they’ve got when something beautiful is ending, whether that thing is childhood, a relationship, a job, or the life of someone they love. But Jesus taught that endings are a prelude to new beginnings:

“It is a fact that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it can grow and produce much more wheat. If it never dies, it will never be more than a single seed. Whoever loves the life they have now will lose it. But whoever is willing to give up their life in this world will keep it. They will have eternal life.” John 12:23-25 (ERV)

Kids grow up and become adults, and the baby I once held will one day nurture life in others, too. People die. Sisters and mothers and daughters – and even the Savior of the world – reach the end of their days, and their lives are planted like seed so that the rest of us can grow to be better, stronger, kinder, wiser people. We may not see the bloom on this side, but I am convinced that the garden that awaits us is a resurrection garden, full of life and color and fruit and energy that this broken world of ours could never sustain.

When you don’t want the endings you’ve got, you are in good company  – even Jesus asked for a Plan B. But just as Jesus’ life did not end with His death, but ushered in the Kingdom of God, so your endings will be the start of something God-ordained and new.

It’s hard to see it now, I know, but seed takes time to grow. Give it time – and Want What You’ve Got while you wait.

 

Consider This:

What are the endings you are facing today? Some endings feel good! What do you look forward to in this next, new season?

Some endings are brutal. What do you dread most as you face this loss/change/transition?

Maybe you’ve been holding onto a “seed” that, if planted, might bring life and joy and health and good stuff to others! Think about what needs to die in your life so that God’s resurrection garden can grow.

Want What You’ve Got started as a blog series and is now available on Amazon as a 30-day spiritual adventure for women.

Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but […]

I will shout for joy    as I sing Your praises;    my soul will celebrate because You have rescued me. Psalm 71:23 The Voice Have you ever done a Beth Moore study? They are deep and wide and meaty and growth-inducing IF you do the homework. I’m not sure which study brought this song to life, but joy was the […]

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28 New Living […]

I am the Eternal One. I Am is My name. My beauty is unique, a weighty splendor all My own. And nothing else—no idols could possibly gain My praise.Look here, what’s done is done and gone.The now is new, and there’s hope in the not-yet.I will tell you what’s to come, even before the events are brand-new.So make […]

Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the desert—His name is the Lord—be in good spirits before Him. Psalm 68:4 AMP I ran away from home when I was 32 years old. I had a rare opportunity to visit my parents by myself, and I took it. It […]

For a season, earlier in my life, songs seemed to ooze out of me. It wasn’t as if I could control the process. To be completely honest, the process actually controlled me. I would sense the gathering of energy inside, growing and pressing against my being from within – a captive seeking an escape route. […]

There’s just something about verse, you know? Poetry. Lyrics. They have the power to bypass the gatekeeper (the brain) and deliver their goods directly to the heart.  A song or poem, delivered at just the right time, has the potential to redirect our thoughts or the trajectory of our day. Verse stirs up – or […]

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and […]

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout […]