TRANSITIONS

 

In our earlier married years, my husband frequently travelled abroad for work. Germany, India, America – it all sounded so glamorous. The truth was more prosaic and it certainly wasn’t exciting for those of us left behind.

Eventually I got used to it. The children and I developed our own routine and I even made the most of his absence: adding cauliflower to meals, watching TV shows he didn’t like, sleeping diagonally in the bed.

But the part I never grew accustomed to was the day before he left.

I wanted to make the most of every minute together. He wanted to make sure he was ready for his trip. He would disappear upstairs to pack, promising that once he was done, he was all ours. But when he came down, his attention was elsewhere, his mind already on the plane ahead of his body.

I still find transitions uncomfortable.

I’m in one now. I’ve left my job and am clearing and packing for our move to Cornwall next week. Saying goodbye to people, places, and routines whilst sorting out the admin of university enrolment and changing homes. Relinquishing one identity and taking up others. Letting go of one community but not yet belonging in another.

Like Jane Walters in her post (https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2022/09/so-long-farewell-by-jane-walters.html) the ‘urge to purge’ has kicked in. Not just clearing out physical things but also unsubscribing from unnecessary mailing lists, handing over documents to the new Boys’ Brigade captain, leaving irrelevant Facebook groups.

There’s a sense of lightness in doing all this. But also a sense of untetheredness.

I’m making changes to my writing commitments too. After many years, I’ve said goodbye to http://fiveminutefriday.com/community/ and committed to a new series on my blog about life by the coast. A fresh header to the blog and new ways of building my audience to develop.

I wonder about that transition period the disciples lived through after Jesus’ resurrection but before His ascension. When they knew they were moving from one life to something different but didn’t yet know what it would mean, how it would work out practically, what opportunities and threats would come their way. I wonder what purging they did?

And I ponder the transition periods we go through in our faith: when we first become Christians, when God calls us to a new task, or when we ‘tread the verge of Jordan’ before stepping into our heavenly home. The dichotomy of living out God’s kingdom which is both ‘now’ and ‘not yet’.

Where are you in your Christian writing journey? On familiar ground, digging in to where God has planted you? Struggling to see through the undergrowth of what’s ahead? Or stopped on a hilltop contemplating the path before you?

Whichever it is, we can all hold onto this promise from God:

"The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:8)

And I’m holding onto this one particularly:

“If I settle on the far side of the sea [or the Tamar!], even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139.9-10)

Liz Manning is about to give up being an Occupational Therapist and become a student again on a Creative Writing MA at Plymouth University, where she hopes to bring at least one of her WIPs to publication readiness. She’ll no doubt blog about how she gets on, with both her studies and living in a Cornish coastal village. She’s also given up being a BB captain but not a wife and mum.

She blogs regularly at https://thestufflifeismadeofblog.wordpress.com/