I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:8
Recently, our son graduated from high school. Yup, we have officially entered a new chapter… empty “nestdom”. When people say eighteen years go by in a blink, they need to come up with another word that symbolizes time passing even faster than the closing of our eyes. A blink has got nothing on how fast these eighteen years flew… sigh. While I was tempted to document each day of his senior year with a picture, I resisted and focused on celebrating his firsts and lasts… the first, last day of his high school career; his first and last basketball and baseball games, his last Christmas before going to college, and even his first day of kindergarten coupled with his last day of high school. The year ended up becoming an immense time of reflection on eighteen years of firsts and lasts.
Our lives are punctuated with firsts and lasts, giving us opportunities to reflect on where each chapter began and where each chapter ended. Whether it is our first day of kindergarten and the last day of our senior year… or… the first day of our new job and the first day of our retirement, our lives are filled with chapters that represent growth, progress, and HOPE. Of course, those chapters may include failures and setbacks. However, when we rest in the fact that God works ALL things for good, the chapters are not about the failures, they are about the HOPE that highlights how we grew within these chapters.
Whether you are a senior in high school or a freshman in college, a first-year teacher or a veteran educator entering your last year, a new parent or a seasoned grandparent… your life is one filled with HOPE at the turn of each page. There is a hesitation and an excitement that encompasses each closing of a chapter and the turning of a new page. Regardless of where you are in your life’s journey, if your focus is on God, you will always enter each beginning (alpha) and ending with HOPEmega.
God’s Words in the Revelation verses that open and close this message bring comfort to me, especially in this milestone of our family’s life. While I have experienced some tears throughout our son’s graduation year, I must admit that most of this year has been filled with excitement in what is to come… for him and for us. God has written a plan for each one of us and this year has highlighted His plan in each of our books. Yes, I know our lives will not be the same ever again, but that doesn’t mean our lives are going to be less… as a matter of fact, I know they will be more. They will be filled with more excitement, more firsts, more HOPE.
The same is true as we come to the final chapter in our lives. God has written a beautiful plan for our time here on earth and an absolutely gorgeous plan for our eternal lives. He is Alpha and Omega… HOPEmega. He is our beautiful beginning and our blessed ending… where HOPE lives in eternity. As believers, our lives do not end when God closes the chapter on this world. Thanks to His Son, Jesus, our lives become even richer, more blessed, and consumed with HOPE as He opens the new chapter of our lives in eternity.
I invite you to celebrate all the pages and chapters, firsts and lasts of the life God has blessed you with. While some chapters are easier to celebrate than others, with God, we rest in the fact that His promises, His plan, His HOPE are encompassed at the beginning and end… where the end is NOT an ending, but a beginning… one immersed in HOPEmega. My HOPE is that you will see God in all of it… all the firsts, all the lasts, all the halts, all the HOPEs. He is with you through all the beginnings and endings because He is the One who wrote it all, specifically with a beautifully blessed book for each of you.
Approach each ending as a new beginning… one that may be filled with happy or sad tears, but still filled with tears of HOPE. I promise as He promises… He is with you always until the end of the age. He is our Alpha and Omega. He is our first and our last. He is, was, and is to come. He is our HOPEmega!
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Revelation 22:13
Milestone are, simply steps to Eternity.
❤️