Every year my family gathers for “camp” at my parents home. My three siblings , our spouses and our eleven kids get together. We spend the week at “camp”, fishing, swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, tubing, playing cards, eating (lots of eating), playing games, etc. I love gathering with my family and spending time together making memories.
Today is our last day of camp on Secret Lake. My parents will be moving in a month and the memories we made here will remain but the space we enjoyed them in will no longer be where we gather. We will continue “camp” every year yet it will be different in many ways.
I share this with you this morning because there are two life lessons I learned through my walk with cancer that I personally am leaning on a lot right now; There Is A Last Time for Everything and The End Is a New Beginning.
Knowing this was our last time together at my parents home in our hometown, I have been doing my best to absorb the time with everyone. Watching the little things like how my mom greets the kids every morning for breakfast, the cousins run off the dock into their tubes together, the line of people on shore or the dock fishing, my dad playing cards with the kids, how we gather (all 21 of us) around the table for grace and meals together and how we end our nights together watching a movie or playing a game.
I want to absorb it all and in the same breath I am doing my best to trust that just because this is ending, there is something new on the horizon for our family. I don’t want to pretend this is easy. It is a time of transition, especially considering I live in my hometown about five minutes away from my parents currently. I will miss them, this space, this place and my family gathered here.
I am thankful for the lessons I have been given and yet see how they not only helped me through cancer but how I need to apply them in life after cancer too.
I am sharing this with you because I am not sure what you are experiencing in life currently but in case you too are going through a transitional time, I offer for you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we focus on being present and absorb the little moments in our lives that make up the big picture. May we capture the memories with our loved ones in our hearts. And if we are coming to the end of one thing, may we trust that God is doing something new - and it may be even better than what we know now.
With love and hope,
Shawn