Transition: Breathe

Transition.  I'm not sure there's a harder word for me to appreciate.  Dictionary.com defines transition as the: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Yep.  I'm not technically a fan of transition.  I'm a rut person.  I like comfort.  I like knowing, predicting, anticipating, and...ahem...controlling. 

Here's what comes to mind when i think of transition--giving birth.  If I may be so bold, the getting pregnant part was fun.  Having child 1 and child 2 placed in my arms was more than fun--it was more than amazing, really.  But...the transition part of labor?  Notsomuch fun. For any men brave enough to keep reading, I promise to step off this metaphor very soon.  But not quite yet.  You see, in "transition", the pain is at it's zenith, and we ladies are told not to push.  We're told to breathe.  Really?  Breathe.  Yeah, that helps.  Pant like a dog, in fact.  Because there's nothing that makes a woman feel prettier than panting like a dog as she rides out the pain of the whole watermelon through a straw situation.  Maybe there's even a blissful midwife or husband whom you used to love, but now would like to see banished to a far, far away land at one's side encouraging such behavior.   Yep, you're in pain, and want this baby so badly to come, but during transition, you must wait.  Breathe and wait.  Let that baby get into position so s/he can be brought forth into the world. 

There's not a lot you can control during times of transition.  Bother. Here are some other transitions we're in the midst of in our family--maybe you can relate:

• transitioning from middle school to high school
• transitioning from thinking about learning to drive to learning to drive
• transitioning from time zone to time zone  - Buffalo to Seattle and back (weekly)
• transitioning from being the sole adult in the home to having a partner (weekly)
• transitioning from being undisciplined with eating patterns to eating mindfully
• transitioning from school to summer

But, as my compassionate, faithful, p.a.t.i.e.n.t. God has impressed upon me, these times of transition--times when I'm at the end of myself--are times to trust and hold fast to my faith more. 

To grow into a new level of belief and maturity. 

I don't know about you, but sometimes, I get tired of trusting and growing and maturing.  I can get myself a regular, good old funk regarding all of the changes and my wishes to keep things the same--or at least under control.  But without transition:

• the middle schooler stays in hell middle school
• the boy never learns to drive
• the man gives up his employment
• the woman gives up her ability to lovingly support her husband
• the family remains unhealthy
• summer never comes

And that beautiful baby--fruit of the transition between being a couple and being a family--is never born. 

So...by the grace of God, I'm reframing my thinking about transition.  I'm choosing, just for this moment, to embrace transition.  To breathe.  And to trust God that He'll prepare and guide me for what comes in the next moment...and the next.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. "  Philippians 3:12 (NIV)

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..."  Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)