Transition is an interesting place to be. When you live in the “space between” what is and what will be it creates an interesting tension that has a built in capacity to act as our teacher. Israel went through this in the wilderness. Ministers go through this between ministries. Churches go through this in the time between the preacher leaving and the new preacher being hired.
The space between has a purpose and it shouldn’t be missed. I am just trying to figure out what it is I am not supposed to miss. Israel missed it at times in Numbers. I don’t want to be like Israel in that regard. I want to learn the lessons. I want to grow from the tension that is unique to this particular season of ministry where we are saying good bye to one congregation and hello to another one.
Returning to the Israel in the wilderness analogy I see that the reason God purposefully kept them in the wilderness was two fold: 1) to discipline them for their lack of trust and 2) to form a relationship with them that would be lacking if they were taken directly into the Promised land without having to face much adversity. To be honest, my level of adversity is quite low compared to Israel’s but it is every bit as real. My hope is that through this time I will learn a deeper trust in the Lord and that my relationship with God and others deepens more and more each day.
There is much to learn and the greatest growth comes through adversity. The temptation is to short circuit that process in a quick and easy fashion that has more to do with our co-dependence than it has to do with our ability to tolerate uncomfortability. If you find the gym to be a comfortable place, challenge free…something tells me you aren’t doing it right. The same with transition.