The Land of Beginning Again
Read Louisa Fletcher’s wonderful poem “The Land of Beginning Again” and then ask yourself if this is heaven. Heaven not as some distant and cloud-filled paradise but rather that place where all hurts are mended, all griefs comforted, all regrets repaired, all insults undone, all relationships restored.
In painting a picture that reminds me a bit of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia, Fletcher reminds us that life – both here and in the world to come – is about relationships. And she reminds us that forgiveness – which is, in fact, releasing a claim on another so as to begin again – is the secret ingredient of life.
But then ask yourself another question. Must we wait for the world to come to enter into the land of beginning again? Might church be that as well, at least a foretaste and perhaps even more? What would it take? What would we have to do to make our faith community the place where we are candid about our brokenness, eager for restoration, and willing to risk ourselves in love, mercy, and forgiveness that we might live – even here, even now – in the land of beginning again.
The Land of Beginning Again
I wish that there were some wonderful place
In the Land of Beginning Again.
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
and never put on again.
I wish we could come on it all unaware,
Like the hunter who finds a lost trail;
And I wish that the one whom our blindness had done
The greatest injustice of all
Could be there at the gates
like an old friend that waits
For the comrade he’s gladdest to hail.
We would find all the things we intended to do
But forgot, and remembered too late,
Little praises unspoken, little promises broken,
And all the thousand and one
Little duties neglected that might have perfected
The day for one less fortunate.
It wouldn’t be possible not to be kind
In the Land of Beginning Again,
And the ones we misjudged
and the ones whom we grudged
their moments of victory here,
Would find in the grasp of our loving hand-clasp
More than penitent lips could explain…
So I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
And never put on again.
By Louisa Fletcher, in The Land of Beginning Again
Note: Thanks, Stuart, for pointing me here!
This, and more. Infinitely more, but what a beautiful way to sum up in terms we can understand that which is so wonderful as to be beyond human understanding. I can wait… But just barely.
Thank you, Louise Fletcher, for such words of hope, peace, joy and forgiveness. I feel as if I have found The Land of Beginning Again inside my heart and soul and being, and that my life will take a positive turn down a road called happiness.
Louise Fletcher..this poem has long been a favorite if mine. So BEAUTIFUL..so given to hope for reconciliation with our failings and faults.💝💝💝