Necessary Endings

Ecclesiastes 3Common English Bible (CEB)

A season for everything

   3 There’s a season for everything

    and a time for every matter under the heavens:

2     a time for giving birth and a time for dying,

    a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,

3     a time for killing and a time for healing,

    a time for tearing down and a time for building up,

4     a time for crying and a time for laughing,

    a time for mourning and a time for dancing,

5     a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

    a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,

6     a time for searching and a time for losing,

    a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,

7     a time for tearing and a time for repairing,

    a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,

8     a time for loving and a time for hating,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

Over the last few years, I have struggled with making my raised bed garden produce like my garden did years ago.  I cannot tell you how many hours and how many resources I have poured into those beds.  I have been largely unsuccessful. I can get a few tomatoes and maybe a cucumber or two, but not much else.  After taking soil samples to the Clemson extension office nearby, I discovered that my soil was too rich; I had so much organic material in my garden that the needed nutrients were unavailable to the plants.  Even removing some of the soil and replacing with unamended dirt last year, the results were poor at best.

Enter Dr. Henry Cloud who wrote the book Necessary Endings. He calls our attention to the Ecclesiastes passage above and notes that for every positive action that happens, there is a correlating ending.  Endings are natural in life.  In fact, many times we suffer in life because we continue to try to sustain activities, projects, or even relationships that have really come to the point of needing a necessary, and natural, ending.

So, I celebrate a natural ending today.  I have dismantled my raised bed garden.  I will soon work to restore the ground to its previous grassy open area.  I have decided that I am okay with the fact that I will not have a regular garden while I live in town.  I have my raspberries, my blueberries, perhaps some peaches.  I also have a herb garden with oregano, basil, and rosemary. Perhaps I will find some additional things to plant alongside these.  

I am trying to learn to accept that sometimes, endings are necessary.  Many times, God led the people of Israel from one place to another in the wilderness as they wandered toward the Promised Land.  With each ending, we leave room for God to make new beginnings and provide new opportunities.

So, I choose not to grieve the ending of my garden,but to celebrate the new way in which God will move in the future.

Grace and Peace,