Sunday, October 1, 2017

Trusting in the Transition.

     If you've ever worked with a group of young children in any capacity, you're probably familiar with the chaos that happens during the time of transitioning between activities. Let's say they're doing a craft, and it's time to go to music class. First you have to tell them that craft is over, which will cause at least one of them to cry. Then you will probably want them to stand in a line, which means you will need to settle a passionate argument about whose turn it is to be the line leader. While you are playing referee, any children not involved in the argument will probably become bored and find ways to entertain themselves, such as poking each other in the eye and quite literally attempting to climb the walls. And yet somehow, the children usually do arrive at the next activity at some point, and soon all of the crying and fighting is forgotten until it's time to do it all again.  
     I feel that in a way, we are all like children in times of transition. Just when we've become comfortable with the way things are, a change comes along that we weren't expecting and throws everything off balance. Even if it's an exciting change like moving to a new place for a job you're passionate about, it still comes with difficult factors like saying goodbye to friends. While we may not express our disapproval of change as outwardly as children do, we certainly feel it, and it's not fun.
     I am probably not the best person to give advice on how to transition well. I'm highly emotional, and this becomes quite obvious whenever a big change is happening in my life. As excited as I was to move to Alaska, the actual process of saying "see you later" to friends and family resulted in many tears, most of which happened at inconvenient times. But while I may not be a professional transitioner yet, my recent move did give me plenty of experience, and some advice to pass along.
   The first piece of advice I have for surviving transition is to trust God's plan. I know that is much easier said than done, but it is important to remember that we are not in control, and God will never abandon us. This can be scary, but if we wait until we know the whole plan to take the first step, we'll never get anywhere.
     My second piece of advice is to learn from the transition. Since times of change often bring up negative emotions, it is tempting to get through them as quickly as possible and never look back. But there is always something to be learned each time a transition comes along. So take the lessons you learned in whatever stage you are leaving, and carry them with you into the next stage.
     And lastly and most importantly, if we learn nothing else from unexpected change, let's learn to be kind to each other. You're probably rolling your eyes over how corny that sounds, but I really believe it's true.  We can never know when our paths will cross and when they will separate again, so there's no time like the present to start treating each other well.




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