New Chapter

Have you ever found yourself in a great book, reading a really good chapter and you are so deep into it you don't want it to end?  
And even though you know the chapter has to end you go through the inevitable angst anyway and keep reading cause you have to.

There have been some times when a particularly good chapter has managed to get me so deeply engrossed in the story that I have to actually pause at the end, put the book down, and just soak in what just happened.  Like rewinding and recapturing the highlights and how I felt.  Like soaking and trying to visually keep it altogether in my mind.....

Then, a few minutes later....you pick the book back up and guess what?  There is a brand new chapter to throw yourself into all over again!  Fantastic... who knows what is going to happen next.

As far as the chapters in my family's book of life go, our last chapter was pretty incredible.  12 years ago we rolled into Centerville, UT from Rochester, NY.  We bought an old historic home with a secret garden and a big rock wall.  It had mystery, character and whimsy.  There were fun nooks, cranny's, places to explore, to play and to dream.  Our kids grew up there and made the very most of it.  While the fun house may have captured their imagination, it was the people that came into our lives that captured our hearts.

The neighborhood was friendly and the people we associated the most with were those that came regularly to church.  They were amazing.........actually, they were magnificent.  Deeply spiritual people willing to serve us at a moment's notice.  It was a privilege to live amongst these people.  These didn't wait to be told that someone needed a tree to be cut down, or a meal due to sickness.  These people just knew these things as they occurred and they just took care of each other without waiting for an assignment, project or any organized activity.  No recognition needed.  On Sunday they taught our kids about Jesus and how he lived his life.  During the week they practiced what they preached.  They lived as He did, loving others, looking for ways to help, giving of their means and time as if they had big bank accounts of it to just spend at will.  The influence of these good neighbors was immense on us and our kids.  They modeled everything you read about in the Bible everyday.  How could that not ultimately affect us?

As a result, our kids had frequent spiritual experiences during the course of those 12 years....watching these people first, pondering and wondering, then forming their own opinions of what they believed in, then copying them...practicing what they were seeing until it became very familiar to them, like singing the words to your favorite country song.

They grew up and formed their own chapters of their own books.  They learned, loved and occasionally lost, but they will always remember what happened here in Centerville, and why.

Then they all left....well, almost all......One beautiful redhead is now curling her toes over the launchpad, the last one preparing to leap off of her perch of home..... thus ending this chapter.

I pause and put the book down for a minute.... I close my eyes and rewind and reminisce in the highlights of that wonderful chapter of our lives.  Faces pop up with each memory... faces that will not be forgotten....I soak one last time before saying farewell to home, house and friends.  I pick up the book and turn the page.....

.....I wonder what is in store for us now?

I can't wait to see.....