This, my last post in 25 Days for Peace, is deplorably late.  I felt drawn to my final post from last year, and wanting to create something like it, found myself stuck.  It took until early this afternoon to breakaway from a desire to repost last years and call it done.  It felt wrong to end with a repost, however, so I missed the deadline in order to bring something fresh.  What I found follows. 

There comes a time in every journey when the final step is taken.  Frodo departs for the Grey Havens, Peter, Lucy and Edmund find themselves “farther up and further in”.  The Little Prince finds his way home, Jean Valjean finds the arms of Fantine as he crosses between worlds, Elijah Bailey solves the last mysterious murder, and Harry Potter watches as his children board the train to Hogwarts.   In those moments, there is a finality, a sense of accomplishment and resolution.  There just isn’t anymore to the story.  The steps that can be taken have been.  It is over.

I am tempted to greet the end of this 25 days of writing in the same way.  A journey that has been completed.  I have taken all of the steps required of me and written my 25 posts.  I can rest in a sense of accomplishment and completion.  It was a more difficult journey this year, and it was difficult to find time to write.  I miss the depths I was able to explore last year, but at the same time I think this year has changed me more than last.  I think I recognize the change in me the most in the discovery that my journey is not yet over.

The sense of finality that I can apply to a fictional characters story does not belong to me.  I live past what I have written, and I endure beyond the end of this challenge.  I do not cease to exist now that I am done writing for the year.

I find that I must compare my position now to that of Christ, born so many years ago.  Most Biblical historians believe that roughly 4000 years passed from the moment in the garden where Christ was first foretold, to the time when He was born of a human woman.  His birth begins the ending of the story of the old testament, being the fulfillment of many prophecies found inside of it.  In that moment, he begins a new story, living on earth for the next 33 years.  In his death, He strikes the mortal blow to death itself, rising again from seeming defeat.  The book ends.  The Bible is complete.

Yet the story continues.

We live in anticipation of the fulfillment of more prophecy.  We believe that each moment draws us closer to the end of this earth, and the creation of something new.  The story is not over, but continues on, steadily progressing to a new beginning.

In this I find that my story is not yet over.  I have more to do, and an end of my own to work towards.  Writing about peace is my old testament, now I am poised to continue the work.  I don’t know what that means, but I do know that there is more to be done.  Instead of finding an ending at the conclusion of this month, I am finding a new direction.  Again, I don’t know what the future holds, there are no prophecies (that I am aware of) about my final destination.  I do know that the work began in me will be completed.

So for now friends, adieu.  Your companionship in this journey has been most comforting.