Change take 3

We have grieved and let go.

We have spent time in the neutral zone, patiently persisting with openness.

Now we enter the third stage of new beginnings.

Remember that first day of school with all the nervous energy and endless questions.  What would the teacher be like?  How much homework would there be?  Would my friends be in the same class?  Would there be new friends?

Just as grieving is a process...
Just as being in the neutral zone can take time...
So, too, the new beginning - for the joyful anticipation, new car smell, hopefulness, and tentativeness it can awaken - needs to take time too.

We might want to rush in quickly...sign up for everything.  I see this sometimes around the church.  People dive in head first into everything.  After a few months when the constant, perpetual motion isn't offering the meaning, it is easy to get disillusioned.  To be sure, some people love the church and will attend every meeting with gusto.  But most folks, need to enter in like a child into a swimming pool by just dipping their tippy toe into the water to test it out.  Daring to dive in takes courage.  Daring to dive in, we need to take a deep breath and come up for air.  Daring to dive we need to let our lives be buoyed by a spirit.

In the new beginning celebrate what feels life giving.  But also name and notice where the new places maybe even has some disappointments.  Remember - no place or person is perfect or completely broken - usually somewhere in the messy middle.

I think a new beginning needs a slow, savory, steady pace with lots of breaks. 

I think a new beginning needs companions who help us celebrate as well as compassionately listen when it isn't quite what we'd hoped.

I think a new beginning is like when you start dating someone.  Listen, learn, and know that you cannot speed, microwave or manufacture your way through it.  Time is a gift in the new beginning.

Just as God's grace was there to help you let things go and grief.
Just as God's grace was there to help you patiently persist through the neutral zone.
Let God's grace be there to celebrate and immerse yourself fully in this new place and beginning.

Such is the nature of transitions and faithfully facing change.

Grace and peace everyone.