Life is Transition

Ever been in a transition zone?  I have and am again. The question is, will I view it as intrusion or adventure?

I have heard the word 'transition' so often the past few years, that I am starting to view it as a swear word!!  What?  This is transition, again?  I don’t know if it’s become an excuse or if it is actual reality but whatever the case, it seems to be an unavoidable plight ... or adventure.  It depends on how you look at it.

Life is transition. A baby displays it almost daily, and then children are in constant flux as their bodies stretch and form and their minds grow and expand into maturity.  Ah, that’s where it’s supposed to stop, eh? …at maturity.  Ha!  Well, I’m 48 and I’m still not quite sure if I am mature; you know, settled down, wise & correct, knowing exactly what I was made for and where I am headed. For example, in the past few years I have had a change in job, church home, mom status (as in graduated to Nana), body (I’ll leave it at that!), ministry opportunities, etc.  And, by no means are these all negative!  They just represent significant shifts that have pulled me out of some very comfortable spots; sometimes spots that I felt I had found my niche in!   Anyway, enough of me!!  I don’t know if this sounds familiar to you, but the reality in the western world is that ‘change’ is very much a part of our lives and more so all the time.

How do I cope?  I would say that my greatest pursuit over the past while has been simply to find the ‘rest’ of God. The demands and pace of life are often too hard to carry.  You see, Jesus keeps pulling us back to Himself.  He wants us to live in His pace and promises rest for our souls if we do that.  He promises that if we seek Him first, all of the stuff of life will be taken care of (Matthew 11:28-30; Matthew 6:33)  Here are some verses that have been speaking to me lately; ones that were so familiar to me that I seemed to have forgotten about them:

   Trust
            in the Lord with all your heart,
       Lean not
            on your own understanding.
     In all your ways
                  acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
                                               (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Actually, the whole chapter (Proverbs 3) is well worth digesting as it serves us a good reminder of how to be happy in life. You’ll have to ignore the heading though if you’re past 30, at least the one in my Bible, as it says ‘Guidance for the Young’.  But hey, even though my body is aging, my spirit isn’t. It is eternal.  May God keep me young enough to always trust & lean on Him.  May God always remind me of the things that I learned when I was young.

Ah, maybe that’s why there are so many ‘transitions’…