I grinned country-mile wide as my friend, Jen, told me about her neighborhood’s propensity for playing practical jokes on one another. The entire gang good-naturedly gave as well as they got, and one time they got Jen and her family especially good.
The shenanigans were discovered on a late summer evening when Jen, her husband, and her three kids returned home from a family vacation. Jen, first through the front door, stepped into the dark entryway of their house. As she walked the familiar path from the entryway toward the living room to turn on a light, she startled herself by running right into a piece of furniture. Thrown for a loop, she immediately slowed her pace and felt around for what blocked her path. It appeared to be the coffee table.
“What in the world?” Jen said out loud. “Why is that here?”
After walking around the coffee table and stumbling into an armchair, she finally reached an end table holding a lamp. She turned it on, and then her mouth dropped open. While she and her family vacationed, the neighbors had snuck inside their home and played furniture Tetris by completely rearranging their living room sofa, tables, chairs, and bookcase.
Grinning wryly, Jen took in the scene before her as her family members trickled in. They stared at the same room with their belongings, but everything was situated in an entirely new way — even the rugs and kids’ toys were in unfamiliar locations. Until they could either get used to the new arrangement or put everything back the way it was, Jen and her family had to walk around that room a little differently, a little more slowly.
When you walk through a new season of change, isn’t it much the same? Until you get used to the new lay of the land, you must take your time and take it slow.
In her book, The Art of Slow Writing, author Louise DeSalvo talks about how after 9/11, many novelists had to relearn how to work and write. She says, “When our lives change, when the world changes, we must reinvent ourselves as writers.”
This is true for any of us walking through a new season, writer or not. In a way, we must reinvent ourselves as we move through our lives when they look so foreign from before. At the very least, we must get used to the new circumstances and move around them differently.
This doesn’t mean you won’t have to move quickly through some of the changes your new season brings. But it does mean you will give your heart the time it takes to process through these changes. It means you will not shame or talk down to yourself for taking this time. Change can move our bodies into new territory, and it may take our hearts and souls a little time to catch up. We must give ourselves the gift of rest for this to happen.
We must resist the urge to rush towards panic as we refuse to move through this season alone.
In the quiet of the morning or the still of the evening or the calm-before-the-storm of the 3:15pm carpool line, we can take time to sit in the presence of Jesus in this new stage of life. As we do so, we can consider a Scripture reference that reflects God’s promises:
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in mighty waters . . .
Isaiah 43:16-17 (ESV)
There’s no obstacle change brings that God does not bring a way through. There’s no change we encounter that God is not master over. There’s no season we experience that He doesn’t provide us with endurance.
We may have babies graduating kindergarten or high school and mothers or grandmothers moving into nursing homes. We might have job transitions and family transitions that require must-do steps and things to prepare. But one thing we don’t have to do is rush our hearts and souls through this season. Do what you need to do on the outside, but let God do His good work on the inside in His good timing. Hear Him speak to your heart, “When you’re tempted to despair about this change, just reorient your heart’s location to me, because I never, ever change.”
This is no joke: As difficult change comes into your life, Jesus walks with you through it. Take your time with Him, and take it slow. You don’t need to stumble or trip your way toward the Light. The Light is right beside you, illuminating the way one step at a time.
There's no obstacle change brings that God does not bring a way through. - @Kristen_Strong: Click To Tweet Leave a Comment