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Times of transition show us our limits, yet they also open us up to newness. What worked before may not work now, and we’re forced to look at different options. The transition may soften our hard edges and rigid expectations and encourage flexible thinking.
Scripture is full of stories of transition. The flood forces Noah onto the ark, and when the water recedes, he faces a different world. Joseph moves from favored son to enslavement to leadership in Egypt. Joseph and Mary are startled by the news of her pregnancy and shift their lives to accommodate Jesus’ birth.
Times of transition bring out the parts of ourselves we’d rather hide. We get anxious, rigid, weary, impatient and hopeless. We cling to old ideas. Yet transition also breaks down our barriers and exposes our vulnerabilities, which opens us up to curiosity.
It’s tough to sit in the discomfort and disorientation of in-between times. Yet these times are also filled with possibility. Transition exposes how much we thought we knew and how little we actually knew. In the unknowing, we leave space for God to act, and we pay attention to the ways God is already acting.
This message is excerpted from “Transitions open us up to newness” by Jennifer Hackbarth in the July 2023 Café online magazine. Today we commemorate Jan Hus, martyr, 1415.