CHAPTERS

An elderly woman told me, not long ago, that as she looks back over her life she can see several "lives" that merge, one into another. She called them "chapters." One chapter was when she was little. Not too much memory from those earliest of  years, but a bit. Her childhood was happy with wonderful parents. Then came the adolescent chapter where she was making so many adjustments to life and so sullen and unhappy even though there was nothing to be unhappy about. Then came the teen chapter, the college chapter, the career chapter, the "mom" chapter, the empty nest chapter, the retirement chapter, the loss-of-spouse chapter, the aging chapter and now, the end-of-life chapter. She said that in each one we have the opportunity to begin anew. New opportunities and responsibilities come. We can "re-create" ourselves. We can cast off the old and make new resolutions. She said that so many people fail to recognize the new chapters in their lives and to take action to change their lives at those turnings of the page. They miss what God has opened up for them because they are trapped in the past and can't let it go and end up writing the new chapter almost identical to the last. They miss the wondrous joy of being born again throughout their lives.

Most certainly wisdom has come to her with age and perhaps her idea of "chapters" is one we all need to keep in mind as we make our way through life. Be renewed as life changes. Be invigorated with the new possibilities that will, most certainly, come your way.