To be alive is to be in transition. Living things change. God’s creation of us is ongoing.
Transitions can feel like that up-in-the-air moment of a page turn -- when you’re leaving what’s behind and you can’t see what’s coming next. It’s a threshold moment.
Lament, grief, fear, anxiety, and anticipation can be all mixed up together in the slow-motion suspense of a page turn. Feelings drip off the suspended page like a waterfall.
Your feelings are a gift and have something to say. It can be helpful to get curious and notice where you are feeling the feelings in your body. Pull up a chair and offer them hospitality. Invite them to tea, even. You can set a place at the table for your anger, your fear, and your tension. Listen. What do your feelings have to say to you? Journal. It can be helpful to ask God to help you discover what’s underneath them— what’s going on there? You may not discover it right away, but it will happen. Your feelings are in the present moment, and God is present with you in your feelings.
Sometimes we hold tension in our bodies because we fear what’s coming next. We put up walls of defense, like armor. Sister Rachel Dietz OSB, who recently passed away, was a wise spiritual director, therapist and teacher. She once told me that tight rope walkers maintain their balance by relaxing into the tension with every step. If their bodies tense, they risk falling.
A tightrope walker will fall if she doesn’t relax. The tension of the rope has to be there in order for her to walk, and so does her connection of her feet with the tightrope. The only way she can
make movement on the journey of the tightrope is to relax into the tension and keep her eyes looking straight ahead at her focal point. If she looks down or around she may get anxious and fall.
What might it look like for you to experience your place of transition as Holy ground? God’s got this next step on the tightrope, this next page turn of your life. Be gentle with you in this moment, this Holy place. He’s as close as your next breath. Let go of the outcome. He just might be inviting you to something IN it. God is at work in all things.
In a time of transition:
What’s the story your tension or fear might be telling you? Embrace your story with compassionate curiosity. Be gentle with yourself. Take time to be with your feelings and your story. Invite Jesus in.
What might it look like for you to create space for you to take time to feel and process?
What might God be inviting you to?
Press into the freedoms you have. What sets your heart on fire? Look around. Ask God to inspire you. What can you reimagine? Change? Breathe new life into?
Be fully present. Recognize the God who is with you in your transition. He is your focal point.