Help me embrace the necessary endings in my life and allow you to mature and change me through them. None of us like endings because there is a degree of sadness to them all. Even when an ending spawns a welcomed new beginning, there is a loss of the old. No matter how much we try, there is no way to go through life without experiencing loss; in fact, many necessary endings are a part of life:

Childhood—Without the loss of our childhood bodies, immaturity, and inexperience, we wouldn’t be able to enter adulthood. And with the loss of childhood, we lose our playfulness, innocence, and dependency. We enjoy watching our children grow but are aware that their days of being little will pass, and we will miss them.

Relationships—Whether we want it or not, some of our relationships will end. People move or pass away. Intimate relationships sometimes end no matter how hard we try to make them work. We change interests over the course of our lives, and some of the relationships with them die. People get busy with their own lives and so do we.

Jobs—If a job comes to an end, it can be a relief or a crisis, depending on the financial situation and options. It can be difficult to adjust our identities and embrace something new, especially when it wasn’t what we wanted.

Dreams—Our dreams don’t all come true. In fact, most of us lead fairly ordinary and predictable lives that aren’t necessarily the ones we dreamed of. Some of us can say that few of our dreams materialized, and we live in a state of disappointment and disillusionment because of it.

What do you do with these losses? Accept them as necessary. Childhood has to end. Jobs change based on circumstances often beyond your control. People play a role in your life for a time. Most relationships outside of family won’t be for life, with the exception of a few good friends. Dreams are just that—dreams. A dream is the hope of a wish or desire being fulfilled. Dreams spur you forward and help you imagine things differently than they are. Their purpose is to motivate you toward something better. When they aren’t fulfilled, replace them with another dream. Be willing to accept the necessary endings by letting go of the old and embracing the new.

By Karla Downing

Relationship Devotional Prayer

 
God,
Help me embrace the necessary endings in my life and allow you to mature and change me through them.

Relationship Devotional Challenge

 
Embrace the endings in your life by grieving them, accepting them, and then moving on to new things.

Scripture Meditation

 
Isaiah 43:18-19

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (NIV).