Saying “good-bye” and dealing with change can be extremely difficult. If you get attached to people, places, and daily rhythms, losing any of these can be rather disruptive. This new year is already challenging my capacity to handle change. I lost my playground. I’m losing my Spirit-filled supervisor. I lost my health as my sinus and allergy problems wiped me out again. My best friend is moving down south for the winter. And all of my family members are going through challenging transitions.
I’ve searched for God’s wisdom only to discover that having attachments to anyone or anything but God in this world is a very temporary experience. Solomon’s words give us an awareness challenge. “Notice the way God does things; then fall into line. Don’t fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13 NLT) His father, David, also gave us a heart challenge. “Trust in the Lord and do good…Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires…The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives.” (Psalm 37:3,4,21 NLT)
But sometimes I need to experience Jesus with skin on, people who embody God’s truth during transitions, and they do it well. My Spirit-filled friend, Yvette, told me, “I have peace, and there’s no talking during the test.” When she told me, “I have peace,” I knew it came from the One who calmed the sea, and He gave me His peace through her when I needed it.
I found my Spirit-filled friend, Jon, yesterday. He welcomed me into a day full of transitions. He baptized his two foster children and said “good-bye” to them as they were transitioning into a forever family to adopt them. He’d changed their lives, and they changed his life. God gives us teachers of many shapes and sizes. If we see all of life and time and people as gifts from God, we won’t become overly attached to the gifts. Instead, we’ll receive each one, invest in each one, receive from each one, and thank God for each one. Jon demonstrated what Brennan Manning called, “the wisdom of tenderness” to his church, his family, and his foster children. As she was leaving, his foster daughter hugged me, hugged her friends, and even went from tree to tree hugging even the landscape of the church, I learned so much about transitioning well. She and her little brother have Jesus in their hearts, and His home moves within them wherever they go.
Jesus is teaching me through my Spirit-filled friends and difficult transitions that He is with me through all the changes and challenges of this life. He extends his hands, arms, lap, and heart with an invitation to come to Him with all my stuff and find rest for my soul. (Matthew 11:28-30) He’s our ever-present help in time of need (Psalm 46:1), so don’t shrink back from loving God and people. If you get focused on what you lost, you’ll miss what’s right in front of you. As my dad always says, “Don’t live in warmed-over-memories of your past.” Give those memories over to God’s healing love, and create some new memories today. We’re getting a snow storm today. Do you want to build a snowman?