End or Beginning
End or Beginning
By RAYLA STEWART HOGUE
Special to the Daily Statesman
Everyone was gathering. Celebrations were taking place. Loud noisemakers, music, parties, and more were taking place all across the county. Thousands upon thousands gathered to crush into Time Square to watch the ball slowly drop as the year came to an end.
Hopes and dreams ran out of time. Either they had been accomplished or went unrealized. Many grew nostalgic. Regretting what had not been done; wishing for more, grieving for what had been lost. Some celebrated things accomplished; new lives born; new relationship forged; and the fulfilment of their dreams. The end of the year was always a bit melancholy, filled with regrets--it was the end.
Hope kindled in hearts as well. The old was wiped clean. The new lay unwritten, unformed, waiting to become. The old must pass for the new to come into being.
For now all is quiet. The new is waiting to be. The old must pass to make way for the new. In the end is a beginning.
There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There's a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. (Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth)
End or beginning? One leads to the other.
God of infinity, help us to see life from your perspective. Teach us that as one thing ends it makes way for the beginning of something. Teach us to see beyond the end into the beginning of a new year of promise and hope.
So be it. Amen.
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