Graduations and Transitions

As many of our senior’s graduation ceremonies have been moved to June, and most have now finished all of the requirements that make it official, I want to take this opportunity to say “congratulations!”  Your accomplishment is worthy of celebration and we are proud of you.  As this season ends in the most anticlimactic way, there are lots of things that have not been the way that you may have hoped and dreamed. It is ok to mourn the loss of these expectations.  But I want to encourage you, and your families as well, to consider your journey.  From where have you come and what lies ahead?  What stories show God at work in and around you? Sure, there is uncertainty, but what are things that you hope for?  What or who do you hope in?  What is defining your path forward?  What does it mean in this season to say with the Psalmist “[f]or God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.  He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” 62:5?

This is a time of transition.  Our summer mission trip to Tennessee has been cancelled as well as June Camps at Cowen.  We are evaluating when and how we will begin to phase in youth and children’s ministry at New Baptist Church.  But in this time of transition, what is God showing you?  Most schools will have collected their final assignments by the time this prints and summer, but different is beginning.  How is God at work in your family?  What is God doing among your neighbors?  Are there new habits that focus your minds on Jesus during this season and allow you to listen for direction from God?  If you’ve ever sat for a long time, that transition from sitting to walking feels a little wobbly, and maybe this season feels the same way, but how can we allow God to use this as a way for us and our families to grow in Him?

I’ve recently learned that seasons of transition are called liminal seasons, after that Latin word that means threshold, like the part of the door where you are neither in nor out, you are at the threshold or limen.  These are awkward times, but taking time to be present, to evaluate, or as the Psalmist says “wait on God” taking stock of where we’ve come from, while considering the future.  This is a time of learning, a time of growing, a time of trusting.   

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