Endings are Beginnings

This past December right before Christmas I woke up to the sounds of sirens and what sounded like a house close by being overtaken by fire, as I opened my eyes, I could see the red from the fire trucks lights flashing on my wall. I looked out confirming what I already knew and that was the neighbor’s house across the street in gulfed by flames and the family standing a few houses down on the sidewalk of a very cold dark early December morning watching their house burn. As the light of a new day began to shine the firefighters had most of the house put out but there was no going back to what once was, the house and all they had was gone.

The season of winter moved into spring then into summer and still no sign of rebuilding even on some days when the wind blew you could still smell the lingering odor of fire then slowly work began. Tearing down what was left and the slow but exciting rebuilding of the new. From walls to the trusses then onto the roof the house is being rebuilt better than it was before. This stuck with me, as I watch the progress and see the owners come by to look at what is being done, I have to ask myself is the horra of a fire worth the nice new home? I have to admit I would rather keep my not so new construction of a home.

And then I think of how reluctant I am to change, to accept and let go. Is it worth it? The family had a choice to either stay in a burning inferno or leave it to stand in the cold and isn’t life just like that? Sometimes we have devastation just to have to move onto difficulty, but the difficulty is better than what was and in time you are able to start to rebuild and have something better than what was before.

I know that no one would ever want to go through devastation that happens in life but what choice do we really have? We can stay in the inferno or go out into the cold that will in time be what will lead to a new and better life. Change is hard but so is staying the same. We aren’t going to have a life without hurt and maybe that is what trips us up when we have devastation. It is attachment and expectation of perfection in a fallen world that can sometimes lead us to stay in a burning inferno instead of braving the cold. Remembering we are only passing through this short life helps me. Yes, we will have hardships, hurt and pain but we will also have beauty too and through it all we have a heavenly father with us!