I recently remembered a phone call I received from a good friend several years ago.
It was one of those friends that you don’t have to talk to very often to feel close to. It was one of those phone calls where you feel helpless because there’s nothing you can do or say to make their situation any better. His dad had just died.
I remember tears streaming down my cheeks as he told me where he was at in the process of mourning. And while there was still such sorrow, there was this inexplicable joy that was undeniable in his tone.
More than anything, I remember him telling me that it was time to sing a new song. That while there was heartache and sadness, there was still the hope of new and different…there was still the hope that the while one season was coming to an end, there was the promise of better and good right around the corner.
I find myself uttering those words a lot since then.
I find myself clinging to that idea a lot….especially right now.
As summer wraps up, I find myself in a position that I haven’t been in for a long while. A season of my life is ending. A chapter has finished. It’s time to sing a new song.
I don’t know if I’ve had the time to process through the emotions that come with the change. Mostly I feel ready to jump into the unknown, but occasionally sorrow sets in as I realize the things I’m leaving behind.
I know I’ve been thinking a lot about my response to things ending, though. That while sometimes I can’t change my circumstances, there’s a lot of value in how I respond and react to things despite how hard and terrifying they may be.
Instead of being angry, instead of distancing myself, instead of sadness…what if I respond with hope of the endless possibilities that lie ahead? What if I finish well, and continue to love even through the heartache? What if I find joy in the beauty of singing a new song?
I don’t know where you’re at in life right now. Perhaps the end of summer means something new is just around the corner for you as well. Perhaps your circumstances have you in a place of significant change. Perhaps the changes mean good-byes, letting go, moving on.
I hope, if that’s you, that you can join me in approaching the change with hope. That together we might be willing to admit that there can be so much good, even when it means that something that we care for deeply has to die. That it is possible to sing a new song…and that new song could actually be a better song…even if it stings a little right now.
This time I don’t get the choice in singing a new song.
It’s what lies before me as the next few weeks unfold.
The choice now lies in the singing of a better song… and this I plan on doing.
With everything I am, I’m determined that the chapter just completed is not the best chapter in the book and that with each turning of the page, it just gets better, and better, and better.
That’s something worth hoping and striving for.
That’s something worth singing about.
Ready or not…