As most of you know, I love to read. I can’t imagine life without my preconceptions being shattered by new thoughts, my mind being prodded by another’s thinking. Recently I was reading yet one more book about aging (I do a lot of that these days in relationship to nxtSTP), and was struck by this statement:
“ The real truth, I have come to think, is that there is no such thing as having only one life to live. The fact is that every life is simply a series of lives, each one of them with its own task, its own flavor, its own brand of errors, its own type of sins, its own glories, its own kind of deep, dank despair, its own plethora of possibilities, all designed to lead us to the same end – happiness and a sense of fulfillment.
Life is a mosaic made up of multiple pieces, each of them full in itself, each of them a stepping-stone on the way to the rest of it.” Joan Chittester, The Gift of Years.
What a refreshing way to approach life! Too many times people remain prisoners of their past. In spite of the fact that God tells us that when we are in Christ, we are new creations, regardless of the fact that God tells us old things have passed away, and that He makes all things brand new, too many people remain tethered to things long past, as if they cannot break free and enjoy a brand new life. Pity!
God has so very much more for us when we delight in the new day He has created, and realize that He has allowed us to live this new day for a reason. He’s not leading us into our past, nor is He stopping us from moving into His future. All He wants us to do is trust and follow Him.
That’s what this “next chapter” is all about, new beginnings, fresh starts, another piece of the mosaic of our lives. Wherever you have been, you are now at a place where you get to make a new decision to go after all God has for you with abandon. May your “next chapter” see great and mighty things unfold!