From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

I’m afraid I woke up tired again today.  I was a little disappointed and said so to my husband.  We have shifted into a new normal with my parent’s move to Hubbard Hill.  I am happily back to work and expected to wake with more energy by now.  My husband just laughed and reminded me that four days ago I was ending a two+ week of non-stop activity from early morning to late evening every day as we were helping my parents make the move to Elkhart.  Before that was the week of Bible School and before that we had two trips to the Cleveland Clinic and multiple trips north as we have tried to care for my parents in these past three months of health crises.  “Give yourself a little time to bounce back!” he said to me.  I’m not very patient with being in transition.

My father said something similar to me today.  He said he wasn’t sure my mother and he were settling in well to Hubbard Hill yet.  It was my turn to remind him that it’s not even been a week yet since they moved in!  Additionally, my son Terry is struggling with his own transition.  After two years of working in a job he loved in Minneapolis, a city he loved, Terry has moved to Dallas to begin law school.  He has a bug problem in his new apartment (uhg!) and his furnishings won’t arrive until next week.  Needless to say, he’s not a happy camper, and I hear about it every night.  I assure him things will get better in time.

Transitions are hard.  We generally find ourselves impatient to move through all the newness so we can get to the “new normal” or we are tempted to abandon the new plan and run back to the old familiar world we once knew.  The problem is, transitions are unavoidable.  We are all in transition most of our lives.  We learn and grow as young people.  We take new jobs, move to new locations, have children, watch them grow up and leave us (boo hoo), say good bye to friends and loved ones as the move away or die… we grow old with all the unavoidable aches and pains and reductions in our independence and we pass from this life into the next adventure with our Lord!  All of these changes are transitions, some of which we choose and some of which are thrust upon us.

What we do get to choose, however, is how we will live through these transitions.  Will we grumble and focus on the negative making ourselves and everyone else around us miserable?  Or will we look for the presence of God and small blessings to surprise us?  I want to choose the later; but sometimes I get impatient and forget.

The writer of Lamentations says:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.  (Lam 3: 22-23)

I think I will try to remember this verse today and tomorrow.

Peace,

Pr. Sally