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My oldest child will be a senior in high school this fall. Our family will live in the in-between this school year, between what has been and what will be in the future. It will be a year of lasts: last concerts, last report cards, last games, the last first day of school. Next spring, there will be no turning back as graduation approaches and plans are solidified for the following year. I know this change is necessary, yet that doesn’t make it easier. There is comfort in keeping things the same. Even the anticipation of change is difficult.
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.
I don’t know what the next year will bring in my household, but I predict there will be a sense of unmooring as we shift into another stage of life. In my good moments, I hope to be curious about what’s next and find delight in the changes; in my difficult moments, I hope to remember it’s human to struggle with letting go and to sense the presence of the Spirit with me.
This message is excerpted from “The spiritual work of transition” by Jennifer Hackbarth in the August 2023 Café online magazine.