Do All Good Things Really Come to an End?

I get the blues when I turn the last page of a really good novel, especially one in which I’ve grown to love the characters. I’m tempted to order a second dish of Pinkberry when I finish my bowl of pomegranate frozen yogurt with strawberries, blueberries and mango on top. And I’m one of those people who is never ready for a vacation to come to a close. I love home, but I just can’t ache for it while I’m lying on a beach or hiking through the mountains or standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Come on…

Bottom line? I don’t like for good things to end. And yet, we know that all good things must come to an end, right?

I’ve experienced several endings in the last few years. For example, my child rearing years have ended. That’s been a tough one. I completely dedicated myself to being a mom to my children for 21 years. And before you say that was shortsighted of me and that I shouldn’t have been so absorbed with them, let me put your concerns to rest. I was also involved in ministry, deeply in relationship with friends and my husband, and pursing other interests as well. But I loved the noise and busyness and dinner-in-the-oven aromas and large loads of laundry and laughter of raising my children.

But that has ended. And now it’s quiet and my time is more my own and dinner is rarely cooked in an oven and the laundry amounts to two little loads a week. My husband and I laugh with each other, but we miss the sarcastic wit of our son and the high octane energy of our daughter.

Endings. New chapters. Bleh!!

And, like I said, I’ve got other endings where that one came from. I’ll not go into details, but suffice it to say that they were not all anticipated or desired or relished endings. Some of them have been hard and sad, and sometimes they have wreaked of the odors of rejection and loss and grief and unfinished business.

Endings remind me of undesirable truths, such as:

nothing in this world is permanent (except the souls of believers and the Word of God)
life is fragile
life is a vapor
anyone has the potential of disappointing you at some point
life is made up of seasons
seasons change
feelings change
people change

But endings have also taught me something else, something much more important and hopeful:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end.

(Lamentations 3:22)

I have clung to this hope-evoking scripture in recent months the same way I clung to my daddy’s hand when he talked me into going through a haunted house as a child. Petrified of whatever lay around the corner (or behind me or beneath my feet, for that matter), I gripped my daddy’s hand and insisted he hold onto me. Okay. Actually I was 17, but still… I’ve been laying hold of and holding onto this sweet biblical truth with that same tenacity.

Remember God’s love is not just some abstract emotion He feels toward us. His love wouldn’t let us go. His love compelled Him to send His only, perfect Son to live and die for us. His love compels Him to seek us out. His love compels Him to pursue us with a hot jealousy and unyielding passion, letting nothing get between us and Him (Romans 8:38-39). His love compels Him to forgive us. His love prohibits Him from ever abandoning us…or even glancing away for a minute. His love fastens His adoring gaze upon us, consumes his mind with innumerable thoughts about us, propels Him to speak to us and walk with us, and sustains His long-suffering patience with us. And His love will one day prompt Him to send His Son back to fetch us. He absolutely adores us.

He adores me. He adores you. And that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever…end. Never. It never pauses or wanes or shrinks or becomes less effective. His love never ceases. Thus, His mercies–those tender gifts of compassion and grace–never come to an end either.

Praise the Lord! His love never ceases. It’s higher than the heavens are above the earth, It overflows the deepest oceans. It cannot be contained or explained or refrained. It never, ever ends.

Have you recently turned the last page in a book you loved? Sure, maybe you’ve finished a novel with pages and a binding. But maybe you, like me, have also closed a beloved chapter in your life. Sad, huh? Truth is, seasons come and go. Sometimes people do, too. I hate that. I really, really do. But I cling to the fact that God’s love never goes away. Never, ever, ever. And as I’ve meditated on Lamentation 3:22 that has become enough for me. His never-ceasing love is enough. Amen.

What do you love about God’s never-ceasing love? How have you seen Him love you in recent days? Please share…

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