This Is Not the End {Mantra 18}
—Grace & Truth Linkup
I’ve been to two funerals in three days.
One funeral was for my uncle. It has been a few years since I’d seen him or seen my cousins (the last time was at another funeral). But seeing my cousins again felt like returning home.
The second funeral was for a friend’s mother. I hadn’t known the mother personally, but hearing her grandchildren’s letters about her read at the funeral, I related.
At both funerals, there was sadness.
But also at both funerals, there was hope. That even though this may look like the end . . .
This is not the end.
Life is full of endings: the end of each season, the end of a ballgame, the end of a school year.
But at the end of every ending, we’re always propelled into something else.
Each ending brings the beginning of a new thing, the next thing.
When I get sad about an ending, I grieve the loss. Endings are painful. Friends of Jesus cried at his tomb. Endings deserve to be recognized and honored.
But I also remind myself that even though these are endings, they also are beginnings. Of something. Maybe I know what that something is; maybe I don’t. When the tomb reopens, something new is released.
Life never truly ends. It just changes into something else.
At the very end of our own life here, we’ll just change into something else, too. And be reunited with those who’ve already begun the next leg of the journey.
I was glad to be reminded of that truth at both these funerals.
This is not the end.
Featured Post
Lois shared a poignant post last week about memories of being at church in years past with family members who have since died.
Her tears reminded her “of the godly heritage I have, of the blessing of warm memories, of the day when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.“
Read all of Lois’s post here, then add your own links below.
“WHEN TEARS BECOME AN ACT OF WORSHIP”
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You are on Day #18 of the series: Find Your Mantra {28 Daily Mantras}
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“Don’t believe everything you think” {Mantra 17}
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“You are never alone” {Mantra 19}
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My mind is making all kinds of good connections with this mantra. Not only is this not the end: This is not the best, not our ultimate destination!
I have really appreciated this series.
“When the tomb reopens, something new is released.” Oh, I love that! Yes, there is always hope and the knowing an ending is another beginning, even in death.
This line “Life never truly ends. It just changes into something else.” is so true. I have left jobs with co-workers I loved. Left churches with parishioners who were more like sisters and brothers than my natural siblings. I’ve had friends who became associates and associates who became life long friends. All transitions to better. The roughest of times have become tunnels leading to better things God had planned for me. I agree, death is the same. A new life awaits. Tomorrow, I will attend the funeral of my dear friend Wanda. I know she is living her best life now.
I’m so glad it’s not the end! It’s a wonderful mantra to keep in mind when I mess up or things aren’t going my way. It’s the biggest picture that matters, and I don’t need to know the details to have a good life.
As Tommy Lee Jones said in the Men in Black; “Elvis isn’t dead, he just went home.” Likewise, our loved ones aren’t dead, they just went home. It is such a comfort to remember this is not the end.
Amen! This is not the end; just a new beginning. And I am a lover of new beginnings. The new beginning to our forever Home will be more glorious than even I, with my big imagination, can dream!
Lisa, I’m so very sorry about the loss of your uncle, but glad you could be with your cousins. When we know Christ, we have the sure hope that our bodies will be resurrected and we will indeed be changed, in the twinkling of an eye into our glorified bodies. I can’t even imagine! And you’re right: Endings precede beginnings. Even our sins and failures don’t have to be the end. In Christ, He transforms them into new beginnings. Thank you so much for sharing hope today!
xo
Lynn
My blog is for seniors so this post is perfect. Thanks so much for saying it again-an end is really not a end.
Thank you Lisa, this is poignant for me this week.
Blessings,
Jennifer
We are heading to a funeral next weekend. It is comforting to know that this isn’t the end.
Aw, Lisa … what a poignant surprise to see that you shared my post with this one. I’m so sorry for these latest losses that you’ve experienced. I love how you frame endings as beginnings. I hear my dad saying it even now, as we sat in the hospital hearing bad news about my mom. “I don’t know how you feel about it,” he’d tell the doctor or social worker, “but we’re Christians and we don’t believe death is the end.” Such gentle comfort. ❤️