Finishing Things part 2

Yesterday I finished my 4th cycle of this current treatment series, and, according to my doctor, I can be finished with it. I am cautious about this because I thought I was finished before, but that was 2 treatment series ago. I guess that is typical of most things in life. I remember when I finished college I thought I would never take another test. I have probably taken hundreds of tests since then, as I wended my way through nursing school, and then certification tests, and a return to college to study spanish. Then, with my children grown and gone I thought I was finished working in children's ministry, but now I am busy every other Sunday with 4Corners Kids. When I was told I had cancer, I thought my life was finished and looked at how unprepared I was to face that end. Three and a half years later, I am still working and playing and living a life that, though different in some ways, still looks remarkably like the one I lived before that difficult day. Finishing things seems to be a way to end a chapter, but not the whole book. What challenges us, calms us, encourages or restores us, we begin again.