Eeyore on Endings

This is the best tail picture I could find!

A Tail isn’t a Tail to them,

it’s just a Little Bit Extra at the back.

- Eeyore

Eeyore is always having tail troubles. His tail falls off. It gets misplaced. The tail gets used as a door pull.

None of his other friends in The Hundred Acre Wood seem to appreciate Eeyore’s struggles. Perhaps, because his beginnings are still in evidence: his ears, his grumpy wit, his nose, and his droopy eyes. Eeyore’s obvious beginnings make his ending not so noticeable when it goes missing.

Beginnings are like that, filling our senses with change and excitement so that endings aren’t very obvious.

They become just a Little Bit Extra at the back.

But Not Always.

January is the perfect month for reflection on new beginnings, but also on endings.

My sister has lived in Arizona for seven years, just three miles away. It is the first time in our grown-up lives that we have lived near each other. She and her husband are moving back to Colorado due to a job change and to be near their children and grandchildren.

I reflect on our lunches together, long conversations about things that matter (and things that don’t), our birthday celebrations three days apart, and my sister helping me at countless speaking events. I remember adventures to London Bridge at Lake Havasu, the poppies at Picacho Peak, and the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix.

Moving is a wonderful new beginning.

But I find myself agreeing with Eeyore. Sometimes an ending is more than just a Little Bit Extra at the back.

Perhaps you find yourself in a January of beginnings and endings, this paradox that embodies our human experience. Of joy and grief. Of peace and chaos. Of hard and good.

The rhythm in nature—in God’s creation—reminds us that life contains seasons, including the dark nights of January.

Grace today as you embody this reality.