I can feel that I’m getting older in a lot of new ways.  Example, I had two different people this week mention the gray hair that is becoming more and more prevalent on my head. Or when I wake up in the morning and my knees are sore. For some this may seem like no big deal, but for a 34-year-old they are sobering realities that life doesn’t stop and leave me in the dynamic years of my 20’s or even early 30’s. (Which I guess I can’t claim to be in my early 30s any more…Here’s to the mids…)

With those fairly trivial thoughts (also as I just enlarged the print on my computer) I have another that spends a lot of time in my mind.

Change… 

There was a time in my life when I was the one who was running for change and pushing for it in many different ways.  I would often think as my younger and arrogant self that the problem with those who resist change is that they are just stuck in the past and that they just couldn’t see all the good that can come from change.  While there are still elements of that in my heart, I’m beginning to understand the value of a great chapter in a good book.

I have been a fairly avid reader for the last 15 years of my life and in that time, I have been able to read some really great books. One thing that separates a good book from let’s say an OK blog post is the ability to put together not just one or two good thoughts but instead many chapters. The really good authors keep you wanting more and more chapter to chapter. How great the previous chapter was only adds to the dynamics and possibilities that lie in the coming chapters.

When it comes to life and the constant winds of change that we experience, it’s important to remember a few things.

The end of a great chapter doesn’t mean that the future chapters won’t have more and more of God’s grace and provision in ways that we would never even imagine. Remember God is a great author who crafts a work of art in our lives that will for sure be a best seller.

The end of a long chapter may feel harder than some of the shorter ones that we experience. That’s OK—long chapters have lots of good content and are often harder to turn the page on. But I want to remind us (that means me as well) again that we have a great Author who is crafting a literary masterpiece that will be unlike any book ever assembled. The end of a great chapter means just that. There is more to come.

Turning the page on a season or a chapter is hard especially because there’s no way that we can see all that’s next for our stories. How could the next chapter be better than the current? Or maybe it’s just I really liked this one and I don’t want to move on. What I find that I am telling myself more and more is to trust the Author. Be thankful for great seasons and be eager that the Writer has great pages ahead of us. We can’t stop reading this great novel—we have to keep going with expectation that there are really, really, really good pages ahead of us all.

So, let’s embrace a tremendous Author who has penned every page thus far and trust Him and look with excitement that the next chapter is going to be all that He wants it to be!

Happy reading!

Blessings,
Chris