“Here we are at last, at the end of all things” that is a line from “The Lord of the Rings.” It’s funny but that moment was not the end at all.  It was only an end of their hard journey for a moment. There was more to their story still be witten and lived. More ends and more beginnings. 

Sometimes, we think we have reached the end or the worst only to find an opportunity for new life. Kind of like a second wind in running. When your muscles ache and can seem to fail.  You just know that it’s the end or it appears to be a potential end. When suddenly your body surges with new strength and fresh energy. I’ve heard it talked about in a way that makes me think the second wind is even better than the first.

Consider Job in scripture, completely down in the pits at his worst, at his wits end when God came with new life. After a good talking to of course. God restored everything that he had lost and even multiplied it. 

As humans we do tend to be melodramatic about things. Our problems of the moment are always the worst and the hardest. We think that the “ends” we face are true ends that we cannot recover from. It’s important to remember though that what we think of as final might not be as final as we perceive it to be. Sometimes what we perceive to be our end, is an opportunity to experience the second wind, if we just hold on and keep fighting. It doesn’t have to be over, the end can be a new beginning. An opportunity for new growth, new life, and renewed vigor.

It’s interesting to note that Sam and Frodo in “Lord of the Rings” still had to fight on after the “this is the end of all things” statement.  There was still one more battle after the ‘end’ for them and there were even more beginnings. 

The only real end is when God takes us home and even then, the end only means the beginning of an eternal life with him. So we can sail off as Frodo ultimately did one day, after many endings and so many more new beginnings.