Transitions always begin with an ending. There is death before there is life. You can’t get to the resurrection without going through the cross. Jesus says in Mark 8, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” In her book How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, Susan Beaumont translates this verse as “We lose ourselves in order to find ourselves.”
Transition is spiritual work. Opening ourselves up to the Spirit’s movement is risky, and we often resist the Spirit or introduce change when the Spirit asks us to sit still.
I like to think of the Spirit as a cool breeze on a hot day, and at times it brings relief. Yet the Spirit’s movement may also feel like a death, prying open our hands when we’ve gripped something too tightly, upsetting our balance and leaving us disoriented and untethered. At times, the Spirit leads us to tenderness and vulnerability. Only then may we lose ourselves in order to find ourselves.
This message is excerpted from “The spiritual work of transitions” by Jennifer Hackbarth in the August 2023 Café online magazine. Today we commemorate Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, c. 202.
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