We’re talking about transitions this week for a number of reasons.

1. I received a great question about coping with changing seasons that I’ll share with you tomorrow.
2. Real life transitions are happening in the lives of so many of my friends and family: weddings, adoptions, dating, new jobs, moving, disappointments, pregnancies, exciting opportunities, grad school, challenges… and on and on and on!
3. I continue to struggle with how to respond to all of the changes going on around me. How do you rejoice with others when you don’t feel like rejoicing? Is it ok to enjoy a season of blessing when friends are walking through a season of hardship?
4. I feel as though every conversation has someone wistfully longing for a season of life that’s to come… or one that’s already happened. Can we learn to be content in our present situation?
5. I just read through every one of my journals during the month of June. I was hunting some specific info for my project, but it was also very entertaining. A common theme through all 18 books that span my middle school years to present day: a desperate search for contentment during just about EVERY season and transition of life.

My journal hunting also revealed how much I enjoy recording quotes and passages from books, articles, lectures, and sermons. I could fill a whole journal or two just with quotations. One of the most interesting passages I discovered in my high school journal was a poem written by a 14 year-old boy. I’m not certain where I first discovered it, but I know exactly why I copiously copied it into the sunflower spiral-bound journal. See for yourself…

Present Tense
It was spring, But it was summer I wanted,
The warm days, And the great outdoors.
It was summer, But it was fall I wanted,
The colorful leaves, And the cool, dry air.
It was fall, But it was winter I wanted,
The beautiful snow, And the joy of the holiday season.
It was winter, But it was spring I wanted,
The warmth, And the blossoming of nature.
I was a child, But it was adulthood I wanted,
The freedom, And the respect.
I was 20, But it was 30 I wanted,
To be mature, And sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, But it was 20 I wanted,
The youth, And the free spirit.
I was retired, But it was middle age I wanted,
The presence of mind, Without limitations.
My life was over.
But I never got what I wanted.
-Jason Lehman, 14 yrs

 

Are you living for the future, past, or present?

Following,
Ginger