With the goodbyes come 'hello's' as we bring in the change- moving home, gaining new friends, seeing the sun after months of grey sky...
We can't expect to stay in the same season forever. We know that the life we have now wont look exactly the same 20 years on. Kids grow up, new friendships take shape, we grow older...
...But we can be excited that with new changes comes growth, as we are challenged to adapt to a new situation.
Sometimes it's a hard change. Maybe we lose someone or something dear to us, or we get made redundant from the job we've held for years. It's not a change we expected, or wanted to be in, but we're faced with this new reality of life and with the question: how am i going to live in this new season?
Ecclesiastes 3 talks about a right time for everything on this earth. There is a time to live, and a time to die, a time to cry and another to laugh, a time to wage war and a time to build peace.
As we enter into a new season we can trust that God has us here for a reason. Sometimes it is so we can learn where our dependancy comes from. Do we depend on ourselves in all situations? Or those around us? Or God?
We can also live in the season we are in with expectancy that this will not be forever. There is a time for everything. After winter comes spring, after summer comes autumn. It might take a while, but it will get there, and we don't have to rush it. Does spring come any faster if you get your hairdryer out and start melting the snow on your door step? It's important to recognise the season we are in. If it's time for winter, we need to wear warm clothes. If it is the time for mourning, we need to do just that.
As we go through the seasons of life we recognise that the last spring we had is not going to look the same as the next spring. Change brings in new realities for our lives. New things have come, and others have gone away. The things we find joy in change, where we go for comfort sometimes looks different.
My move to Mozambique will bring me into a new season as i say goodbye to friends and family here, grieving that loss, and celebrating the new life i will have in another place. But before this happens, other seasons will take place.
I've already been challenged with saying goodbye to some of my favourite people.
Craig and Janelle Palmer are significant friends who have walked alongside me since i was a teenager, and losing their constant presence in my life will bring me into a new season. At the moment that feels a bit like a 'winter'. I think of all the positivity they have brought into my life with their words of encouragement, love and kindness, and think of how i will miss having these friends around me whom i can share anything with.
And then i think of how much they have taught me. And how their spiritual journeys have encouraged me in my walk with God. This has lasting consequences. Their investment in my life was not just for me and i don't want to waste that on myself. I have had a season of learning and growing alongside some special people as we've discovered together more of who God is and how He works. I don't know what this new season will bring but i can be confident that God has used this last season to shape me for what is ahead.
And i am excited because i get to watch my friends enter a new season themselves. One that will be challenging as they move away from the support networks they have built up here, but also exciting as they step further into where God is leading them and benefit from trusting in his provision for their lives.
I'm sure there are many of us who right now are facing a new season in our lives. As we step into this, let us be confident that there is a time for everything. Whatever you are coming into now- the joy of reaping a harvest, the pain of losing a loved one, the hardship of saying goodbye, be confident that while everything on earth may pass away, Our Lord and King remains forever, never leaving nor forsaking us.
...But we can be excited that with new changes comes growth, as we are challenged to adapt to a new situation.
Sometimes it's a hard change. Maybe we lose someone or something dear to us, or we get made redundant from the job we've held for years. It's not a change we expected, or wanted to be in, but we're faced with this new reality of life and with the question: how am i going to live in this new season?
Ecclesiastes 3 talks about a right time for everything on this earth. There is a time to live, and a time to die, a time to cry and another to laugh, a time to wage war and a time to build peace.
As we enter into a new season we can trust that God has us here for a reason. Sometimes it is so we can learn where our dependancy comes from. Do we depend on ourselves in all situations? Or those around us? Or God?
We can also live in the season we are in with expectancy that this will not be forever. There is a time for everything. After winter comes spring, after summer comes autumn. It might take a while, but it will get there, and we don't have to rush it. Does spring come any faster if you get your hairdryer out and start melting the snow on your door step? It's important to recognise the season we are in. If it's time for winter, we need to wear warm clothes. If it is the time for mourning, we need to do just that.
As we go through the seasons of life we recognise that the last spring we had is not going to look the same as the next spring. Change brings in new realities for our lives. New things have come, and others have gone away. The things we find joy in change, where we go for comfort sometimes looks different.
My move to Mozambique will bring me into a new season as i say goodbye to friends and family here, grieving that loss, and celebrating the new life i will have in another place. But before this happens, other seasons will take place.
I've already been challenged with saying goodbye to some of my favourite people.
Craig and Janelle Palmer are significant friends who have walked alongside me since i was a teenager, and losing their constant presence in my life will bring me into a new season. At the moment that feels a bit like a 'winter'. I think of all the positivity they have brought into my life with their words of encouragement, love and kindness, and think of how i will miss having these friends around me whom i can share anything with.
And then i think of how much they have taught me. And how their spiritual journeys have encouraged me in my walk with God. This has lasting consequences. Their investment in my life was not just for me and i don't want to waste that on myself. I have had a season of learning and growing alongside some special people as we've discovered together more of who God is and how He works. I don't know what this new season will bring but i can be confident that God has used this last season to shape me for what is ahead.
And i am excited because i get to watch my friends enter a new season themselves. One that will be challenging as they move away from the support networks they have built up here, but also exciting as they step further into where God is leading them and benefit from trusting in his provision for their lives.
 |
HEY Sal sorry you have to say bye I am saying bye too :( a lot of close friends are leaving. Love you and miss u minch
ReplyDelete