Endings and beginnings

So the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has come to an end. I’m sad because I love to watch it. And there’s a part of me that wishes it could go on on and on and on. I know that’s ridiculous because sport doesn’t work like that. A game is a game. It has a start and it has an ending, otherwise how on earth would you now if you’d won? A race is a race. You start, you race, you finish. Someone wins! But there’s still part of me that doesn’t want it to end. I can be like that in life too. There are some things I don’t want to come to an end. A round of golf when I’m playing well. A holiday that takes me away from the cares and worries of everyday life. My health. Thing is, life isn’t like that. Things come to an end whether I want them to or not. And oddly, that can be a good thing, endings that is. Because sometimes what is really needed is a beginning. And beginnings follow endings. It is perhaps a deep and profound truth that some things have to end before something better can begin. One day, Jesus stunned everyone by saying that he had to die in order for the best to come. Actually he said: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) When Jesus prefaced his words with “Very truly I say” it meant he had something really important to say. And what was important was that for him to bring life to others, he would go to the cross and give up his life. It is a deep, deep truth that out of his death comes our life. And in order for us to live that life, something in us has to die. I don’t think it’s a one off deal either. It is fantastic when a heart turns to God for the first time. There is an ending and there is a beginning. It is the end of one way of living and the beginning of a new way of living. I wonder though how many times in life we might need an ending and a beginning. If I’m honest, there are things about me which I like and don’t want to stop. Habits and behaviours that I think work for me. Some of them may be fine. But some of them may need to stop if I am going to live well in the Kingdom of the Heavens. I wrestle with that! Maybe you do too. Thing is, we might say we believe that God is the God of transformation, and yet be unwilling to bring to an end things which stop that transformation from happening. Which, if we also believe God only has our best interests at heart, doesn’t make much sense. I, for one, can be very fickle. I can desire transformation at the same time as being unwilling to embrace an ending. In the life of faith, beginnings follow endings. And in the life of faith some things have to die for others things to live. Jesus is quite blunt: “Anyone who loves their life will lose it.” (John 12:25) That’s a challenging thought. Perhaps endings are needed for us to live well, to live in a way that means God can bless us. Endings can be hard. But maybe endings bring new beginnings that are better by far.