Our family is in the middle of transition mode right now. We wrapped up the last week of school last week. The house is bare and we are winding down our time here in Thailand doing final activities with friends.
I had originally decided not to do much writing during this time, as it’s busy enough without adding to it the challenge of writing. Yet, I am finding myself full of thoughts and ideas so I decided to write as the flow comes. Or, as Steven Pressfield says, “the muse.”
If you see me post often in the next few weeks, you know the muse was there quite a bit. If you don’t see me post, you know either the muse wasn’t there, or I didn’t have the time to find it.
We fly away from Thailand on May 31st. And we’ll be spending the next month meeting with different relatives and close friends as we trek our way back to Los Angeles where we will set up home. So, the stage of transitions looks long as we’ll be likely “living out of suitcases” for the next two months.
I don’t know about you, but whenever I come to the end of a season, I find myself looking back and evaluating how it went. Did I do my best? Did I grow? If so, what did I learn? What happened during this season that will forever shape my life and my relationships? How am I different because of this season? How has it made me better? What am I motivated to change because of this season? What do I want to carry on into the next season?
These are the questions I find myself compulsively asking during this stage of life.
Most of it I write down in my journal. Maybe share with a few close friends. I certainly don’t intend to air it all for the world to see. However, maybe you are also going through transition or have gone through transition. If you haven’t already, you probably will one day, and maybe a few of the musings I have from looking back and evaluating through this transition will resonate with you.
That’s what I plan to blog about during the next couple of months. If I have the time and space, I may develop a few random more in-depth posts on relevant topics and needed discussions. But for now, I’ll
relegate those to the back-burner and simply open parts of my journal and share some musings.
One of the things I’ve discovered about myself, particularly during this transition, is how attached I am to earthly things. If you want to see how eternally focused you are, move. We say we don’t find our security in our possessions, but then we find it excruciatingly difficult to give them up when God asks us to.
I think especially of the intangible earthly things.
Now, what’s “intangible” earthly things? Things like the place we’ve made most of our memories as a family. And I’m talking more than just our house. Or our backyard. I’m talking about the river where I often take my boys to throw sticks and stones and stuff and flex our muscles and up and coming men. Or the market we go to if we want a good bowl of kao soi. We can’t grasp our hands around these things and take them with us wherever we go. They are, in a sense, “intangible.” But earthly, nonetheless.
Another intangible earthly possession I find myself gripping onto is the security of my family. Being asked to leave relationships that bring them meaning. Physical, financial, and even emotional implications of making such a gigantic move across the Pond. These are things that threaten my family’s security, and while my boys are young enough to be ignorant of it all, they are not too young to feel its reality once it has happened.
And my wife. The way she faithfully trusts and supports and participates, even though the change brings its own insecurity and pain to her. These are possessions I find myself clinging to. Important possessions. Possessions worth caring about. But earthly, nonetheless.
Transition is always painful.
What makes it meaningful is when you are following God. In fact, I suggest you lose meaning in a life free from the pain of transition if the reason you have not transitioned is because you are no longer following God.
It’s hard. We tend to cling. But when we devoted our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ, when we culminated that in our union of marriage, we knew we signed an “empty check,” if you will. The check was our lives, signed with our names. It was empty because we’re letting God choose the amount.
What about you? Have you given God your “check”? No, it’s not easy. And yes, there is a lot you give up. But it’s really the only thing anyone who takes God seriously can do. If you truly want the fullness of Jesus in your life, surrendering to His plan and purpose is the first step. Even when He hasn’t told you what that is, exactly, yet.
Don’t wait until you find yourself eating in pig sty (or piously working for favors later on). Give your life over, now. And discover what it’s like to walk with the Father as He leads you every step of the way.
Question: What are “intangible” earthly possessions you find yourself clinging to? Share in the comments below.
