Monday, April 21, 2008

The Beginning and the Ending

 
I did something this morning that I have very seldom done before!  I put a book in the trash can!   I love books!  So, why did I throw one away?  Let me backtrack to yesterday afternoon when my sweet, adorable, cute-as-a-button granddaughter was sitting in my lap as I read to her from a stack of Little Golden Books.  Did I mention she is sweet, adorable and cute-as-a-button?  O.K.  Just wanted to make that clear!  :)  (Can you tell I'm a doting "Gan-mamma"?)
Back to the story.....I was sitting in my rocking chair holding Precious One.....reading to her and enjoying the books so much.  I finished "Bozo the Clown" and picked up "Where's Fifi?" which was a story about Minnie Mouse searching for her lost dog Fifi.  As soon as I opened the book I knew something was wrong. There were pages missing.  I couldn't really tell how many because they were torn out so smoothly but the story started with the line, "When Daisy and Penny arrived, they found Minnie crying."   So.........I figured that little Fifi had already been lost.  No problem.  I could adlib that part.  Just read the rest of the book I thought.  But, lo and behold, I get to the last page that was in the book and I read, "I once saw a report on TV about a missing dog...."   Again....no more pages....no happy ending!  Who wants to read a Little Golden Book without a happy ending?????  Well, not me for sure!  Hence....plop!.....into the garbage it goes!     
 
As I was thinking about the disappointment of trying to read a book without a beginning or an ending I thought about some verses in the Bible that speak of beginnings and endings.  One of them is found in Revelation 22: 13...."I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."   How thrilling is that?  To know that our God is the Beginning, He's the End, and He's everything in the middle!  We're not left hanging on a string of suspense with God!   We know that "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1: 1) and we know that the last words of Christ in the Bible are "Surely I come quickly." (Revelation 22: 20)   All that lies between these two verses are instructions for our lives....physical and eternal.  God is so good to have given us ALL we need to know about Him through His Word!  He has not torn out the beginning and the ending and left us in limbo to wonder about things.  So, rest assured, I will be keeping His Word close and will not be throwing it in the trash like I am doing with this Little Golden Book that, unlike the Bible, has no beginning nor ending!
 
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"  (Philippians 1: 6)
 
May God bless you abundantly today!
 
Marilyn

5 comments:

Alene said...

Marilyn,
What a great post! It is so comforting to know He is the beginning and the end. Also, that He has gone before us and will go behind us and never changes! What a blessing in this crazy world of change we live in!!! Thanks for the great story! Blessings.

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

His Word is everything to me. I keep it close at hand. I ponder it even closer in my heart. Thanks for painting such a wonderful reminder.

peace~elaine

Joyful said...

Great illustration Marilyn. God's Word is complete.

I was thinking too...that although you could adlib your granddaughter's storybook, we can't add or delete from God's Word. Reminds me of the post I did awhile back, "Editing NOT Needed". (http://princessjoyful.blogspot.com/2008/02/editing-not-needed.html)

So thankful for the treasure of His Word.
Blessings to you today,
Joy

Deborah said...

As I read your post, I thought of another verse..Ecclesiastes 7:8a
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof:
What good is a story with a beginning but no end?! I'm so glad we know the end of our story!
Great post....and nice 'meeting' you!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Hi, I'm new to you blog, but I already love it! Congrats on the homeschool thing...I am a mom of 4, and right now they're enrolled in the local elem. school down the road, but I feel like God wants to me to possibly consider homeschooling. But 4??? Can I do it, or is it crazy to consider? And how do I even start? I would love any thoughts, advice, whatever you can give me, I'd appreciate! Love in Christ! all4boys