Every beginning is also an ending


This is the weekend. My oldest moves into his first apartment, a university graduate and an adult. My baby moves into a house near campus. They are eager for what comes next. They are beginning.

It's much harder for their parents. We are ending something. It's a different perspective. All those years of being a family are changing into something less close, less rewarding. It's a reminder that there are no sounds of little boys laughing in the house and that there won't be. For the boys, this is the start of the fall. For us, summer is ending.

Labour Day is like that - bittersweet. Even the people who pack most eagerly for cottages this weekend do it knowing that the season is almost over, that each good weekend now is borrowed time.

My good and wise friend, Andrew Reid, will be giving a presentation at the Hope Symposium on Living on the other side of the finish line. I'm looking forward to hearing him encourage us to look past merely getting our goals and notice what's waiting after we get them. Often, it's the after that's the toughest part.

So. . . enjoy this sunny, beautiful Labour Day weekend. Love the warmth and the beauty. Notice that the first trees are starting to blush with the approach of fall, and that the clear, bright evenings start earlier now. Notice and use the lingering warmth to spark good dreams for fall and winter. Find hope for what comes next.

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