Endings

Let me begin by asking a question.  What are the things in our lives that we have accumulated that need to end in order to successfully step into 2018?  I remember when we launched The Village and I became the Lead Pastor.  For the first few years, one of the hardest things for me to come to grips with was when a member decides to leave the church for whatever reason.  It is difficult to see people leave who you have poured yourself into and supported one hundred percent.  You visit them and their family members in the hospital, pray for them and with them, you attend their children’s sporting events and you stop whatever you are doing in order to be there in their greatest time of need.  The list goes on and on.  It was approximately two years ago, with the help of my spiritual life and performance coach, when I began to see endings as necessary in order to move forward to the next level.  Not everyone or everything that we accumulate in our lives can go with us to the next level.  As a matter of fact, if the next level has been evading you it could be because it is time to end something.The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-3, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.”  Even Solomon understood the importance of endings so that new life and opportunities can be birthed.  I have learned that endings are a part of life and we have to face them head on or we will end up stagnant.  We must be stripped of one season before we can enter a new season.  So, let me end by asking the question I posed earlier a second time.  What are the things in our lives that we have accumulated that need to end in order to successfully step into 2018?  It is my prayer that 2018 is a year of great things for each of you!!!