TRANSITIONS
It's a "red letter" day at our household today...(and maybe a time for some "red eyes" as well). It is a time of real adjustment...so much so that my daughter asked to stay home from school. And my wife has been dreading the inevitable battle with emotions...one which she will probably lose. There were phone calls from family and friends, and parties over the weekend. Old scrapbooks were dusted off and passed around. Memories of other times and events were recalled and relived. There was some good-natured "ribbing" and some nervous laughter, all leaning inexorably toward the change that today would most certainly bring. And no matter how the scenario plays itself out, things will never be the same for our family again. It's a time for closing one chapter of life and beginning another. Today, you see, is the day my son leaves for "boot camp"! It's one of those times we call a "transition".
Transitions come in all shapes and sizes, but they all require us to change. And that's usually painful. Sooner or later, however, everything changes. We move from one place to another or from one job to another...or even from one relationship to another. Sometimes we think that staying in one place will give us the stability we crave. And sometimes it does, but only for a while, because that's the way life is. Time moves on. And even if our geography stays the same, each of us will still face life's inevitable "passages"...from one age to another, from one responsibility to another, from one stage of life to another, and each requiring a new way of relating, a new set of skills, and a new perspective.
There is a spiritual issue in dealing with such change, according to author and professor Bill Ratliff. It's hearing and responding to the will of God. "The scriptures and the lives of religious persons throughout history, have given witness to God's calling persons into new places", he says. "As God called Abraham, God calls us, 'Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's house for a country which I will show you' (Genesis 12:1)". It's a familiar quest, but the pilgrimage must be individually discerned and is always unique for each of us.
Ratliff also reminds us that to refuse this pilgrimage, to refuse to "enter the wilderness", to "play it safe" rather than following God out into the unknown, is (to some extent) to choose death, to abandon our "growing edge", to give up the destiny of who we are called to become. Better then we should go THROUGH the valley of the shadow, even when it is uncharted and scary. Because more often than not, the loneliness of the wilderness is where God has chosen to speak most clearly, where things are out of our control, where we have no choice but to depend on God's grace.
In one sense this transition is an easy one for my family. It's part of the process of growing up. Something every family expects to face. And we have every reason to expect positive results as this "fledgling" learns to fly (quite literally since he has committed to the Army Airborne). Still, it is comforting to know that whether we "take the wings of the morning" ... or "dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there (God's) hand shall lead" us and His "right hand shall hold" us. That He comprehends our path, and our lying down; and is acquainted with all our ways. The Psalmist was right: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it." His responses are equally valid. First, to praise God and second to pray: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in thy way everlasting".
Can any of us afford to do any less?
CAPT J. David Atwater, CHC, USN
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