The Transitions of Life

Dear Friends,

In this summer series of blogs, we turn to a topic that happens all year long, but which seems to have special relevance in the summer, namely transition.

Last week, I celebrated two members of a family who were transitioning, one from high school to college, a second one from college to a work experience.

Transitions may be, as in the case of these two young people, passage to a new educational place. Transition could involve marriage or religious commitment, the death of a parent, sibling or friend, a new way of thinking, new values just discovered and put into action, a change of patterns. People who work in ministry often transition in the summer to a new place, a new community.

Multiple transitions take place in life. Some are sequential, others simultaneous. We can be in transition when the people around us are not, and vice versa.

“Every transition begins with an ending. We have to let go of an old thing before we pick up the new – not just outwardly, but inwardly, where we keep our connections to the people and places that act as definitions of who we are.” (William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes)

Click! Click is a transition word. It means “I get it!” or “I have it!”

In Jesus, life was a series of transitions – the growth in awareness of who He was and what He was called to. When Jesus was confronted by the Syrophoenician woman who wanted healing for her daughter, click! Jesus moved to a new way of thinking and doing about who He was called to save. On the hillside, when so many people were hungry, click! “Feed them yourselves!” Jesus knew others would have to participate in His own mission in order for life to be enriched. On the cross and in the grave, Jesus had to let go. Click! Before the resurrection, He had to let go of all He hoped for.

Here are some thoughts about what I need to build into my life so that I can make it through transition times.

Be aware that, wanted or not, transition will happen. Change happens. Or as the cabin steward aboard our flight told us referring to the overhead bins, “Shift happens.”

Watch other people to see how they have transitioned or not.

Keep a memory of transition times past. What worked. What didn’t? What were the best practices about transition I need to remember?

Study Jesus and stay the course with the essentials that arise from walking with Him:

            Love God.
            Know that I am loved by God.
            I am called to speak the truth in love.
            I am called to be faithful yet open to change.
            Jesus accepted moments of change, 

            but not without resistance. Father, Let this cup…Luke 22.42

Add your own thoughts here about Jesus and you and others. For all of us, transition is more than a summer’s experience. It is the work of a lifetime.

~Sister Joan Sobala