a key to successful transition.

Transition.  You hear it all the time.  We are “in transition”, “about to make a big transition”, “just came out of a massive transition”.

The beauty of life is that it’s fluid.  Things are always changing, growing, and expanding.  As we move forward and advance in this life, you can’t avoid transition.  And despite the negatives of transition, most of us crave it.  As believers, we have the promise that “He works all things together” and we are moving “from glory to glory”.

Let’s be honest here though.  Even in advancement, transition isn’t always easy or fun.  Just ask a woman in labor about “transition”.  It’s not usually our favorite place.  Especially if we are taking about westerners.  We are the “are we there yet” culture.  We don’t have time for process as a culture, so how do we learn to navigate the in-between seasons.

I am in a massive transition.  I have been single my entire adult life, and about to make the transition into  being a wife.  Last week, I felt the twinges of transition.  I cried in my fiancés arms about leaving my roommates.  He tried to understand and comfort me, but I was in grief.  I’ve lived with these girls for 5 years, and although I am walking into the fulfillment of my lifelong dream, I was hurting.  The beloved Anne of Green Gables might have said I was “in the depths of despair”.  Of course I am NEVER that dramatic though…

I think grief is a healthy part of life, but in the midst of this I found a key to successfully moving forward.

THANKFULNESS.

I started to thank the Lord every time I started to feel that twinge.  I thanked him for years of loyal friendship, for adventures all over the world, for insane provision, for a loving family, for the future that awaits me.

It’s easy to focus on what we don’t have, what we long for, or what others have that we don’t, but that’s a long dark road.  As I transition, I choose thankfulness.  I choose to be thankful for ALL that I do have rather than focus on the discomforts of entering a new land.

It reminds me of the Israelites and how the Lord told them over and over to remember.  That was their key to cultivating the gift of the promised land.

It’s is our weapon for maintaing peace in an unknown place.  It is a constant reminder of His faithfulness.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Colossians 3:15,17

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Colossians 4:2

I know thanksgiving isn’t quite yet, maybe I am feeling it a bit more since I am marrying a Canadian.

Happy thanksgiving my Canadian friends and family.  I am thankful for you!