Remember when you were in middle school and you couldn’t wait to get to high school? The excitement of transitioning from middle to high school for many people is more focused on leaving middle school than getting to high school. Many people are so excited to longer deal with the awkwardness, criticalness, and uncomfortableness that we don’t spend much time thinking about high school, other than we know it has to be better. Then we step into high school on the first day and we realize that we don’t know where the next class is, we are now the smallest people, we don’t know where to sit at lunch, and everything seems faster. We suddenly step into the reality that the transition to high school has a whole new difficulty level than we expected.
All transitions have difficulty involved. Even the best transitions – single to married, unemployed to employed, off the team to on the team, no kids to first child, no driver’s license to the freedom to drive — have difficult components. I believe it is important to not only admit and acknowledge that transitions are difficult but to embrace the transition with focus and boldness. Sometimes we enter the next season or opportunity of life with a false view that the transition will be easy and happen with little effort. Many people get stuck or frozen in the midst of a transition because of how difficult it becomes. Look at Peter from the Bible. He was close to Jesus, betrayed Him as Jesus was arrested and crucified, and then Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples. Jesus was back and things were great. The transition of Jesus going from death to life was awesome for Peter, He loved it! And then Jesus had a conversation with Peter — a conversation that was difficult, awkward, painful, and freeing. But, without the difficult conversation of John 21 happening, Acts 2 does not happen. Have you ever missed the benefits of a transition because you stopped short in a difficult moment? Are there current transitions that you have not entered into because you see the difficult conversation that is needed to step into it?
Our family has learned that transitions are difficult – moving across the country is not easy, living in an apartment with toddler and an infant living in the apartment above you is challenging for sleep, stepping into new schools where you know no one can be lonely, trying to get licensed as an OT in a new state is a long and tedious process, and getting adjusted to a 3 hour time difference can lead to early mornings or late nights. We have learned that the difficult things do not have to stop us from experiencing and getting to the better things that are just ahead for us. We have seen unbelievable things already – Hannah getting to be stage director for the end of year drama productions, getting to be a part of a church that saw over 12,000 people at Easter walk through the doors, and experiencing new opportunities for all of us appear in front of us. We have learned to embrace the difficult parts of transition together as a family and to lean into them so that we can experience the great things that Jesus has called us into.
When you face transition, know that there will be difficult surprises that you do not expect, and you will get to choose how you respond to the difficult parts. Do you keep walking on the beach with Jesus, like Peter did, as He asks you tough questions and leads you through some uncomfortable places or do you stop short of the fullness of the opportunities of the transition. You will face wanted and unwanted transitions in your life and I believe each of them comes with the potential to be used by God is ways that will blow your mind, but to live in them, you have to be willing to face the difficult components and work through them. The willingness to identify, navigate, and push through difficulty will lead you to the true purpose of the transition you are facing. I encourage you to push through difficulty and see what God does in and through you! Whatever transition that is in front of you, do not back down from it – lean into it and see what Jesus can do!