It's a wonderful life

My sabbatical came to a crashing halt Sunday. While W represented NU in Montana, I enjoyed the NWMN conference in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, until Wednesday. My coaching and ministry friends and I visited throughout the event. What fun! I appreciate the investment of friends old and new in us.

In two weeks, I start TESOL classes (teaching English to speakers of other languages). Seattle is full of non-English speakers, so I've wanted to take the course for a while. Since NU offers the 4 semesters required for certification in 4 weeks of summer school, I might as well plunge in.

When that's done, we're on our way to teach in SE Asia. W gets to teach theology, which he loves. I still have course prep to finish: as usual, it's a course new to me and not my main interest. Thank God for faculty friends who loaned me their notes. I'm teaching their courses in their names. (Thanks, Lois! and Barbara.)

We've found good house-sitters, which helps make the time away easy. Our big family reunion and a 60th anniversary arrive in August, but we will celebrate that at our cabin. So... life is swiftly moving along. I'll be training for a new job, come fall. More on that later.

It's time to catch a deep breath and plunge right in!

How can we transition in busy seasons, where everything we've done comes together into "whatever that looks like next"?

1. Know who we are and who God is. Get our bearings before we cross the bridge of transition or launch the boat for the distant shore.
2. Know what we love and want to do. What makes our hearts sing? What's a good fit? (On the flip side, what would we most dread doing, no matter what the paycheck?)
3. Gather our assets. Pull together the education, experience, and other resources - including friends and coworkers - who will help us realize the future.
4. Write down a plan and our action steps. (If you can't figure those out, get a coach. I'm one, and would love to help you in a session or more. You'll be amazed how much you accomplish in a coaching hour!)
5. Begin to move in the direction of the next thing. Use what we know, because some parts of a new season won't appear until we're on our way.
6. Gather advisers - spiritual, mental, emotional, even physical - who are willing and ready to assist us. Let's listen to them and let their counsel guide our transitional process. 
7. Make sure God is with us each step of the way. Keep our spiritual flame alight and "hot": this is not the time to reduce our spiritual disciplines and devotions.
8. Embrace change. Transition is a wild uncertain ride, filled with joys and traumas. We're leaving behind the past for an unknown future. If God is in it, we'll be okay. And the future will be more astonishing and crazy-wonderful than we can imagine.

Read more:

*I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3 NIV

*I will make with you an everlasting covenant. Isaiah 55:3 NLT

*For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,  how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. Hebrews 2:1-4  NASB

*We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Hebrews 6:12 (NIV)

Moravian Prayer: Lord, you named yourself “I Am that I Am” – a title of stability in a world that is confusing and ever changing, with new aims and ways to achieve them almost daily. Satisfyingly, we keep our eyes fixed on you, our one destination, knowing its way. Amen.

Lent Day 31: Hello and goodbye

Do you ever get attached to something, only to have it move on or change? Maybe you've had:

• friendships that nurtured you become broken or diminished by a move, a change of life-season, or other reasons.
• a child with aspirations and dreams, except they were born with (or acquired) limitations that throw normal life out the window.
• a job that was a perfect fit ... until it wasn't.
• a financial plan that somehow turned into financial chaos.
• a church that used to be home and became toxic for you or the family.
• a trusted mentor who ended the relationship and told you to go elsewhere.
• Or ?

From Real Simple Daily Thought

Life swarms with changes. Some of them are so wonderful that we remember them with a smile, embellishing them in memories until they take on epic status. Some changes are so devastating that our scars hurt for years.

"Hello"s and "Goodbye"s share our dreams, our hopes, and our fears. There's no perfect year. Maybe not even a perfect month or week.

Let's focus on the day that is, regardless of the past or future! How?

1. Be grateful for THIS time and place. I keep repeating the "gratitude" mantra, because it resets our complain button to acknowledge that God loves us. Here. Now. This way. THIS IS the day He made; we shall rejoice and be glad IN IT.
2. Take time to evaluate what needs doing and what can be left alone. When life is in motion, I don't have to follow unnecessary rituals. You don't have to tie yourself to every routine.
3. Which resources do you need to negotiate the hello or goodbye? A flowsheet? A mindmap? A trusted adviser? A new car?
4. Look at what you have at hand. Can you partner with friends who are experts in what you don't know? Can you borrow or rent a tool or vehicle? Can you make do with what you have stored?
5. Move through the day. Some days it's enough to put one foot in front of the other. Other days I'll have to swim a deep stream. You'll have to climb a mountain. Or we'll only have enough strength to drop on our knees to beg for wisdom. Show up, whatever your motion!
6. Celebrate the hellos and mourn the goodbyes. No new beginning is perfect. No ending is without its grief. 
7. How mindful can you be? Notice the food you eat, the way your body cooperates, and the feast of possibilities. 

Wishing you a wonderful day in which you live and move and have your being in the Father's love.

Read more:
*You saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you traveled. Deuteronomy 1:31 NLT

*He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. Isaiah 53:8 NLT

*Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. Isaiah 58:8-9 NIV

*Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? Luke 24:26 NLT

*So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. 1 John 4:16

Moravian Prayer: Jesus, our Brother, in your suffering we see the extent to which love can go. You invite us to walk the path of servant love with you. We hesitate, but you promise that we will not be alone as we bring your healing love to a hurting world.

Carry us today, O God, as a loving parent. Encircle us in your arms so we may feel a child-like trust and joy in knowing that we are fully and freely loved and that nothing will ever separate us from you. Amen. 

Lent Day 25: The crest of the wave

Life seems to be experienced in waves. Entire years and decades of Jesus' life go unrecorded. Then  his ministry crests: he chooses disciples and velocity quickens to wash toward his sacrifice on the cross as the Passover lamb.

The ebb of the resurrection, where God pulls back mortality's curtain to showcase His magnificence and power even over death, creates a riptide for the disciples. Jesus spends 40 quiet days with them, expounding on God's mission. He shows them their future as Life-With-God before he withdraws to allow the Holy Spirit to descend.

The Spirit roars into the life of the apostles with godly authority and power. Life and renewal splash throughout the city of Jerusalem and ripples into the world through the pilgrims attending the Pentecostal feast.

Throughout the book of Acts, ebbs and flows in the intensity mark the spread of the gospel:

• Organization and favor. 
• Persecution, outward movement, and expansion. 
• Suffering and missionary proclamation. 
• Exile and writing to preserve the record of Christ and the early Church.

Have you experienced such seasons of quiet, followed by building energy and a surge of momentum?

Where am I right now? A bucket of "aha"s have been dumped on me since last weekend. The wave is rising and I am being carried into the future. I'm not certain of the shore toward which the power of "forward" is pulling me. And that doesn't matter too much. God only requires my "being in this" completely, attentive and intentional toward the work of His Spirit.

How do we "ride the wave" in seasons of change?

1. Breathe in the time of calm and stand at ease when there's no direction.
2. Mull over (and record) lessons learned and insights acquired during the pause between what was and what is becoming.
3. Still your fears of change. God is in control. Completely. Utterly. Beautifully. He holds your future securely and will not let you go.
4. Prepare yourself. Embrace whatever comes your way. Pray. Meditate on scripture. Serve at church. Read an insightful book, listen to a speaker, or attend an event. You may unexpectedly run into an acquaintance or eavesdrop on other conversations.
5. Be willing and obedient. When work appears, when a door opens, when God clears away the clutter of the past to a clear future ... say YES.
6. Surf the wave. God's current will direct you. Enjoy the ride: fighting the water will smash you, suck you under, and make you feel like you're drowning.
7. Enjoy the view as you land on the new shore. Wherever God takes you, He has planned this in advance. What is the wonder of this next job, this new ministry, or this fresh relationship?

What's your favorite wave to date? Were you surprised where the current took you?