Everything Comes To An End

6 Aug

“Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it; reflect that all must come to an end.”  ~ St John Of The Cross

All must come to an end.  Perhaps no group is more keenly aware of this at the present moment than our youth.  They are looking at the days left before having to go back to school.  Summer vacation is nearly over.  For some, that has already happened as their school systems have already returned to school.

When we look at “ends”, we often become anxious.  As in the case of the beginning of a school year, there are many questions that get asked:

  • Have we purchased all our school supplies?
  • Have we purchased uniforms or other new clothes?
  • Have we finished our summer packets?
  • Have we completed other summer obligations?
  • Have we had our school immunizations, medical checkups, or required physicals?

Even as we stress out the answers to those questions, we think ahead and become anxious about the future. For some, their school may be new.  They have to face making new friends and encountering new experiences.  For others, the idea of “same old, same old” can cause feelings of sadness.

It is not just school.  Our entire lives are filled with different staging areas. We wait for something to happen, experience it, and then wait for something new.  Constantly, we are facing newness.

Anxiety really ramps up for the final staging area of our lives: death.  As we become older, we often begin to fear what lies ahead.  What is going to happen?  What will we feel?  How are we going to be judged?  Will we be allowed to go to heaven?  Will others remember us?  Will others even care that we are gone?

The questions go on and on.

There are some eternal truths by which we can live in confidence:  God is real.  His love is eternal.  His Son has destroyed sin and death by His death and resurrection.  God does not want to lose any one of us.  God is waiting for us on “the other side”.  There is no need to fear.  With that knowledge, preserve your heart in peace”.

FAITH ACTION:  Pray for those who are frightened about their approaching end, that they may be confident in God’s abiding love which conquers all things, even death.