Seasons of transition by Elaine Langford

 

 

January is often seen as a transitioning month, named after Janus, the Roman God who looks back at what has been and forward at where we want to be. We often use it as a time to focus on changing our habits or perceptions of ourselves. I joked in my previous ACW More Than Writers (MTW) post, Less is More - Giving up Flabby Writing, January could be seen as a month to give things up. Have you given up on your New Year ambitions yet?

February brings its own period of transition as we start Lent on the 18th February this year. Lent is a time of waiting, like Advent, as we take time to look towards Easter. It’s common to give up luxuries so we can spend more time in prayer and reflection. Though in this age, it can be an excuse to stuff yourself with pancakes and fillings first.  

Advent through to Easter can be the coldest months, where we long for Spring and Summer. These times of waiting for celebrations and looking to a new future can sometimes make us feel stuck. Especially if we have tried something new and it has failed to take hold. The good news is that, despite lack of success, we learn something about ourselves. Even if it is only that we couldn’t give up chocolate for six weeks as easily as we thought.

Just as we acknowledge that the journey from Christmas to Easter for Jesus didn’t take three months but thirty-three years, we need to remember transitions take time, sometimes decades. If you didn’t succeed in your personal or writing goals for January, remember there are eleven more months in 2026 to try again or start something else.

As writers it can sometimes take us a long time to find the story, poem or article that takes us beyond the rejections to the state of published writer. It may even take an age to find the genre that fits our style of writing so our words can flow easily. Yet it’s in the attempts, resets and reflection that we transition from our ambitions to moving towards our goal. As I mentioned in my October MTW post, Writing and Reflecting After A Reset,  you can treat life as pilgrimage. Whatever our next journey point, there will always be another destination to aim towards.

Lent may be the time when you can reflect on where you are in your writing transition and ask God where he wants us to focus. You may find that your goals aren’t right for you at this stage of life. It may be that we need to rethink our route. For example if we don’t have the time to go to the gym three times a week, instead we can look for opportunities to take the stairs instead of the lift. Similarly, as a writer, we might not be able to write a full-length novel (yet) but can write several short stories. So there are often more ways to reach our goals than we can imagine.

As writers, we have the privilege of leading our readers through transitions too. It could be through the story of a character in a novel, or an emotional connection in a poem about a life event. Even factual articles, podcasts and blogs may help someone learn something new about themselves or others.

Just as we hope our writing will impact others, we can also find our way towards our goals by reading output from others. This helps us remember we are not on our own. There are years of experience in the More Than Writer blogs alone. Why not use the search function to find a few topics of interest.

Whether you face February with disappointment or a keenness to continue towards your goal, take advantage of Lent to reflect on your transitions. May God bless you in your writing and inspire you towards a goal where you can be encouraged and encourage others. If you would like prayer through this time, there is a ACW Prayer Facebook page, or comment here and I'll pray for you.

Elaine Langford is currently based in South London but has faced many physical transitions around the UK. She is grateful for the God of new starts. Here are two poems written about this topic on my Poetry Puddles blog:

New Year, New You

Arouse Zeal for New Beginnings 

She also occasionally posts on her blog, Faith Bites (when life bites, faith bites back)