Endings

With the school year coming to an end, I find myself thinking about graduation, life changes, loss, moving on, see you laters... Each of those have a bittersweet connotation. Something is ending whether we're ready or not. The realization that change is occuring can be scary, exciting and life changing at the same time. Yes, endings are hard but they forge a beginning. A beginning that has remanents of the past that shaped you into you. Therefore, there are no true endings. There are reminders of what was and the promise of what is yet to be. May your endings carry more joy than pain. May they inspire you and encourage you. May they remind you that  their very existence means that life as you know it is a sum of parts that comes together to tell a story like no other. See them as had to be there moments as you venture towards whatever is yet to be with the belief that the in - betweens are what we make them.

Life is a Canvas

We live in a world where diversity is ever present. We differ in many ways. We have nevers and deal breakers that work within our mindset and scheme of things. The problem with that is we expect people to believe as we do and when they don't we want to belittle them or judge them. However, that isn't our due or our right. We must learn to come together. Not so we're all the same  but so we can come to appreciate the colorful, abstract canvas of life whose beauty lies in the eyes of the beholders and those that choose to live it without blinders not the ones that stand idly by judging rather than adding to the beauty of it all.

Joy

Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. It can be obtained in many ways. Sometimes its unexpectantly but its there and can be ever present if we allow it to be. Psalm 30:5 reminds us that...weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning. Dare to find the goodness in all you face. Do good! Be good! Believe in the goodness of others, in life, even if its not easily seen because "Joy is a decision, a really BRAVE one, about how you are going to respond to life."- Wess Stafford