Better the End

I have an appreciation for love. Love is precious and dear. Love runs deep down into the heart. These words from Ciona were love to my heart: "I am glad to be in this life with you. I thank God for you being my father and I am glad to be living a good life. Thank you for all the things you have done for me..."

The words of a beloved daughter reached my heart and annuals of my mind. I spoke such words to my father at various times in life. Ciona and I are alike in many ways. We enjoy expressions of compassion. Her mere existence has given me a joy beyond what I could ever imagine without her. She and Lanecia (her older sister) are jewels that people knowing me know light my world and warm my heart.

On the day she uttered the previous words above, I had the misfortune of having allergic reactions so severely that I was very, very ill and resting in my easy chair. The call was not disruptive, because I was too miserable to nap and itching on my back, so that to move was uncomfortable. In fact, by merely calling a dose of comforting love was medicinal.

From the beginning, the sound of her voice was as a song bird, so sweet. Her very soothing tone delighted me. As good as the beginning was, when she spoke of love for her father made it - better the end.

In the middle of our conversation, she mentioned that Ecclesiastes is her current biblical study. During her younger life, Ciona never complained about reading the Bible. In fact, while in elementary school, she found Deuteronomy to be her favorite text. It would have blown my mind completely, except she was the child, who read so well at the age of four that the first grade teacher brought her up from kindergarten to help teach the first grade class. Well, her sister was in the particular first grade class and marveled, but with some shame that her sister had to teach reading to her class. We often laugh about it still today. Now, she is inspiring her father to revisit a favorite Scripture from my past studies - Ecclesiastes 7:8 - "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride."

You see, better the end of the conversation with Ciona, because she reminded me of the key to my love for my father and perhaps her love for me - PATIENCE. She knows my mistakes as well as I knew those of my father, but she also knows the patience I learned from my father. Patience is a fruit of the spirit. Pride may be the gratification resulting from the fruit. The fruit itself is better than being proud of it.

Better the end may seem so paradoxical, when we think of beginnings and endings in life. I had such great times with my parents, which is not a fortune to take for granted. Some parents are abusive. However, as good as those days had been, my days of parenting are the ones to relive...because life with my children is better than life without them.

So, to Ciona, I must say: "Better the end" because you are here in my life. So may better the end be for each of us, greater still is the unending - life eternal. Agape!