From death comes new life…

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live John 11:25

He realised, more vividly than ever before, that art had two constant, two unending preoccupations: it is always meditating upon death and it is always thereby creating life.
Boris Pasternak

In nature, we see new life from death in many ways. From fungi breaking down what were living organisms to create soil for new plants to dying plants providing seeds for the next spring. Thus, from death, comes life. In Scripture, the best news of all is that Jesus provides the bridge between earthly spiritual death to eternal spiritual life. Death is synonymous for endings in many things in our lives, from physical loss of loved ones to chapter closings in our lives (such as graduating from high school or college) to moves from one place to another to changes/ends of careers. Yet each one of those endings comes new beginnings.

Many years ago, I had a friend whose husband worked for years for a large company in a small town.  The company demanded long work hours and it was very stressful. My friend’s husband worked hard and was ever faithful to the company, yet they coerced him to resign under false pretenses, offering a very minimal severance package. Then, months later, the company closed the business in that town; his removal from the job was an obvious ploy to reduce costs in closing the office.

As you might imagine, this was an unforeseen and difficult circumstance for my friend and her husband.  They were very established in the community, but the town was so small that options were limited. Supported by prayer, my friend’s husband set out on a new business venture requiring much time and effort to launch as well as faith in stepping out into the unknown.  In the end, he gained a new career which was far more interesting and rewarding. Had not the “death” of the first job occurred, he would never have known the success and happiness of pursuing his next career. 

When our human nature causes us to mourn at the loss of something that we were greatly invested in, we can rest assured that God will bring new life and change from the death of that season. Like the old leaves falling from trees in the autumn, we need to remember that new leaves will follow.