Change happens

I’ve been thinking a lot about transition the past week.

Last week at a playgroup at the library more than half the kids under 5 had flip flops that were just slightly to small, their moms were anticipating the impending transition from summer to fall. Knowing that the change in temperature was coming soon, they weren’t interested in buying new larger flip flops and so it created kind of a funny little scene.

As I was driving a few days ago I noticed lots of trees were on the verge of changing from green to flamboyant yellows, reds, and oranges. It was like they had a slight tint but weren’t ready to make the leap just yet.

My husband and I have made a few pretty large transitions in the last year. We moved houses, he lost his mom, he changed jobs…

In Bible study we are reading in the beginning of the book of Joshua, the Israelites have been wondering for 40 years. Moses has just died. Joshua is about to lead the people into the promised land, they will transition from a people of nomads to a people firmly planted in the same place. They have been receiving daily manna (their food source) and that will stop. There are a lot of things that will be different, different can often feel scary or intimidating.

God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, not to worry because He will be with them, over and over God repeats this.

The thing is that we have transition constantly in life. We have transition as we grow up, from babies to toddlers to kids to teenagers to adults.

Here in New England we have transitions as the weather changes.

Sometimes we are excited about a transition because we’ve experienced it before and have some idea of how it will go. Sometimes we are excited about a transition because in our view there is no way it could be worse than where we are, we have expectations that make us want to look forward.

Sometimes we feel nervous or anxious, or just downright mad, angry, or sad about a transition. Maybe we aren’t looking forward to a change because it will mean that the friends and support we once had will no longer be there and we will have to build new relationships. Sometimes we are upset about a transition because it wasn’t something we wanted or would have chosen for ourselves, maybe it was the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job or career that we loved.

Reading God’s Word in Joshua has been a life giving reminder that no matter what is in front of us, or what we are leaving behind, that He is with us and He will, in ways only He can, make it beautiful.