From Beginning to End by Mary Folkerts

 

Staring down the last
of another year
and I can’t believe
the march of time
could go this fast.
It never did when
I was a kid waiting
for the school bell
to ring.

What a life this life we live! It starts out slow and then speeds up like one of those terrifying merry-go-rounds, banned for how dangerous they are! Ok, I’m being dramatic, but this time of year, after the busyness and celebrations of Christmas and before the New Year begins, we sit in this in-between land of rest and reflection. Too much backward-looking can leave us with a melancholy spirit of regret and loss if we only focus on what is gone. Reflection, on the other hand, is beneficial if it helps us move forward with purpose and direction.

As storytellers, it’s important to remember that our lives are stories in and of themselves—a whole library full of stories, from comedies to romances, tragedies to memoirs. Some stories we have a hand in writing and others are written for us. Many are never completed until our days are done, but the stories together create a life lived.

I wrote a poem to depict this idea, but more significant than the stories themselves are the bookends that hold up the books: the One who holds all our stories with tender care from beginning to end.

The pale December light
fades outside the windowpane,
but in here, the glow
from the lamp
and the warming fire
illuminate the shelf
lined with volumes
upon volumes of books.
I run my fingers across
the spines,
my heart inexplicably drawn.

Some books fall open
wide
as I examine,
full of words, loud
boisterous, scribbles and
artwork in the margins
dog eared and creased—
those were the confident
days.

Some books have spines
that are broken,
the ink within splotched
and water-stained.
Those were the hard
days.

There are love stories—
romantic curlicues
depicting the emotions
of two hearts
becoming one.
Some books are blank,
stiff and unopened
the pages yet to be marked.

Thumbing my way through
I notice that many stories
have no ending
as of yet…
These—
the stories of life.

But it’s the bookends
holding the whole lot
together that give me
pause.

On one end, tall and strong
stands A—
the beginning,
the Alpha.
And on the other
keeping the books from
toppling is Z—
the ending,
the Omega.

I see it now,
the thread of continuum
woven through the pages,
my stories cradled
in the Father’s
Hands.

For just as He is the Alpha
And Omega, the beginning
and the end,
so He has set a hedge
around my story
from beginning
to end.


Let's keep living and writing our stories, friends, because we know God is the Keeper of our stories!

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a Proverbs 31 ministries COMPEL Writers Training member involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the Small Things https://maryfolkerts.com/ or connect on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/