I got a spelling lesson this week when someone sent me an e-mail to read. I read it. My grandchildren read it easily. See if you can read it.

Can you raed this?

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulacllty

uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,

aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at

Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in what

oerdr the ltteres in

a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the

frsit and last

ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a

taotl mses and you

can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is

bcuseae the huamn mnid

deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word

as a wlohe. Azanmig

huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was

ipmorantt!

It was fascinating to me how important the first and last letters of a word really are. This doesn’t mean that the letters in the middle are not important. They have to be there, but their order is not as important as getting the first and the last in the right place.

The importance of the beginning and the end has a lot of lessons to teach me.

The first lesson involves a sermon. A sermon should capture the attention at the beginning and have a strong finish. The middle part of the sermon is very important, but without a good beginning, you have probably lost most people. People remember the ending. A lot of people say that the beginning and the end of a sermon ought to be very close together!

Think about making a plan. A good plan always starts with where we are, and should finish with the goal clearly stated. There might be differences as to what the middle of the plan is, but the ultimate objective is to accomplish the goal.

Think about a trip. The only way to get to a desired destination is to start from where we are, and very importantly to reach the destination. There might be alternate routes that we can take in the middle, but starting and finishing at the right place are essential.

Think about life. Jesus said “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 21:6) Life begins when God creates us, and He has provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus that the end of life can be the beginning of eternal life. The middle part of life is filled with decisions that make the beginning and ending possible. The middle must contain the right letters (decisions), but how they are arranged isn’t crucial if the first and last are correct.

Tihs spllenig lsseon relay hlpeed me!