We all have times when we end something important in our life. A partner, a job, or some other sort of situation.
Like everyone else, I’ve chosen some of my endings, and for others, I have not. But no matter whether it’s wanted or unplanned, important endings mark a change in our lives.
I’ve been reading the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, which is filled with her personal letters.
Published posthumously, the book reveals how “spiritually lost” she was for most of her last fifty years. You don’t have to be Catholic to wonder how she faced brutal poverty day after day without strong spiritual guidance.
Near the middle of the book is a single paragraph describing the day she left her religious order to start as a missionary. Given a leave from her sacred vows, she left the convent clad in a white sari with a blue border with just five rupees. Not very much money.
What happened that day? And the next? How did she forge her vision into becoming reality? The book does not say, yet that’s interesting to me.
Even though her faith was strong, I’ll bet Mother Teresa was still scared. I’ll bet she considered, at least just for a second, running back to the convent.
We all would. But we go forward anyway. Because at the end is a new beginning.