Life is made up of transitions as we make changes either necessitated by age and circumstance or chosen by deepening wisdom. Ready or not, we all go through numerous transitions in our lives, and they usually involve loss. Are you experiencing one now? Perhaps you have a lost a loved one or a spouse through divorce. Perhaps you are losing clarity of sight or hearing. Perhaps you have lost the good level of health you had taken for granted. Or, maybe you relate to the experience of my sister and mother-in-law who have recently let go of the majority of their possessions when they moved out of homes that had held their lives and families for half a century. Talk about transition!
Every transition involves change, and Richard and Linda Eyre say that, “change is the hardest thing. Even changing our ideas about what and who we want to be is hard. Our brain and our body resist change. But giving in to either of them is like giving them license to slow down and atrophy and weaken.”
I saw my loved ones triumph over the resistance that kept popping up as they prepared to move. When we recognize our resistance to good or inevitable change, we can ask the Lord to lead us into acceptance and new strength.
Transitions are unique times when we are in process of tossing off the old and stepping into the new. This article will offer guidelines that will smooth rough transitions. While the circumstances are always different, the attitudes needed to successfully forge ahead are always the same, namely being positive, patient, and persistent.
A positive attitude means to see change as “opportunity.”
In the movie Up in the Air, George Clooney plays a character whose job is to fire people for companies that are downsizing. He always begins his termination speech with, “I’m here to talk to you about new opportunities.” A bit of a stretch in that situation, but nonetheless true. Every ending brings a new beginning, a fresh start. We effectively wipe clean our slate, whether by choice or by circumstances thrust upon us. From there, we get to choose exactly how to respond to the changes and how we wish to start a new life.
Leaving behind the old can be scary and sad. But mourning the passing of the old doesn’t mean you aren’t going to appreciate the new. You can be grateful for the good in what has been and then move boldly forward into all that can be. We realize we will never have back the old in the same way again. But we can remind ourselves that the new life we are beginning could never be if the changes hadn’t happened.
To read the full article, go to Meridian Magazine.
