Blankets in Summer

It’s late summer here in the mountains of Northern California. Glimpses of an approaching fall are just beginning to appear. A few more leaves and acorns on the ground, cooler nights, shorter days.

If you’ve navigated enough transitions in life, the choices can become instinctual. Especially if you’re a squirrel.

The gray squirrels around my house are busy storing up acorns as fall approaches, going about their business in preparation for a long winter. They know just when to start this work. Winter would be too late. Spring would be too early. 

For us humans, however, seasons are both internal and external. What we feel and experience emotionally and spiritually does not always align with the actual season on the calendar. 
How we navigate transition depends upon the season we find ourselves in. A winter season might be mostly an inward journey as we grieve the loss of something or someone significant in our lives. No career change, no geographical move. But no less of a transition. Patient wisdom is needed for the choices we make here, as well as some outside support to process the loss.
Transitions which most resemble springtime call for different approaches and responses. These are times of new beginnings. We soak in the first rays of sunlight following a long, cold winter. We choose to celebrate the past while waiting and planning for the new to evolve and emerge. Internal motivation is high. We might want to focus on celebration and intentionality. These springtime transitions may be triggered by a necessary ending or new beginning.

What about life transitions which look and feel more like summer or fall? How can you engage meaningfully to make the most of these seasons?

Take a moment to reflect. What kind of transition season are you in? And what might be some appropriate responses?

“There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth…”

— Ecclesiastes 3:1

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is in a major transition. As we talked about her approaching move, she told me about her urge to wrap up in a blanket before going to a recent team meeting. It’s not the season for blankets in her host country. Nonetheless, she wrapped up and walked out the door. 
My friend’s response was not merely about staying warm physically. It was an outward response to what she was feeling and experiencing internally. Inappropriate? I don’t think so. The ways of transition can be strange and unsettling. When we stand on the precipice of major change, we may find ourselves grasping for things which bring a sense of peace and security. Even blankets in summertime.

Transition Tip: My friend wasn't afraid of her team members judging her, even if her actions seemed a bit silly. Build a support team to help you navigate your transition season. They should be people you can trust and share with at a heart level. 

Expressions of Faith

In the world of life coaching, action steps are expressions of commitment to our goals. No coaching session should end without some kind of intentional action toward a stated goal. Coaching clients who do their homework and follow through reach higher levels of growth and success.

Our faith works the same way. It becomes useless and lifeless without expression.

Faith expressing itself in love, the apostle Paul says, is a clear sign that we are allowing God to rule our hearts. When I was younger, these expressions of faith were more life-altering because they were big decisions that would forever change the course of my life: going to college, choosing my life partner, landing on a career choice, moving my family overseas...

As I age and mature, however, I'm learning that the smaller, seemingly less significant choices have just as great, if not greater impact over time. And guess what? It takes more faith to live in obscurity, doing the right thing even when nobody around us notices. Smaller yet more consistent splashes maintain the ripple effect more than a big splash every once in a while.

Think about it. What do you want to accomplish? How can you reach your goal(s) through consistent and intentional choices? What kind of expression can you give to your faith today? 

 …the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.

-Galatians 5:6

Rediscovering the Why

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.””

— Mark 1:35-38

That is why I have come…
I recently started looking at the above verses in a new light. As a coach, I strive to help my clients get clarity on the WHY of what they’re doing or making plans to do. Re-visiting and reiterating one’s life purpose is a necessary practice for keeping on course. In this pursuit, we may look at several key issues including identity, core values, ideals and motivation. We also point them to Jesus, the One who understood better than anyone the purpose for which he was sent. Jesus was never found scratching his head wondering what to do next. He could always, with confidence and conviction, answer the WHY question.

Jesus was in high demand. He was surrounded by crowds of people clamoring for his attention. Within those crowds were real people, all with their individual pleas for help. They were searching him out, yelling from the roadsides, climbing trees and rooftops just to get closer. People with countless spiritual, emotional and physical needs.

Even with all these demands for his time and attention, Jesus adhered to a practice that grounded Him in His mission: He retreated to a solitary place frequently to spend time with His Father. Once or twice a day? We really can’t say for sure as to the frequency of these mini retreats. That’s not the point. We do know that these were regular, ongoing away times. Father and Son. Sender and Sent One. The practice centered Jesus and focused him on the main thing. It’s no coincidence that Jesus, on the heels of one of his many retreats, exclaimed to the disciples, “That is why I have come.”

I’ve had those moments before, times when I’m so full of a sense of purpose. I exclaim, “This is what I was destined for. This is why I’ve been sent here, given this responsibility, assigned this task.” You know the feeling?

How are you at keeping the main thing the main thing? I confess I’m not always so great at it. I get sidetracked and easily distracted. My sense of calling and purpose wanes. Then comes scattered thoughts, clouded vision, and loss of motivation. My question is this: Could there be a connection between retreat, knowing the why, and staying on mission?  Sharing personally, the chances of losing a grasp on the WHY are greatly increased when I drift away from caring for my own soul. Life challenges, big and small, can trip me up when I fail to practice some form of soul-care which keeps me grounded in God’s truth and established in His purposes.

Just yesterday I lost a dear aunt. She was like a second mother to me. She was spontaneous, funny, and fun – a child at heart. I recently spent some time at her bedside. I held her hand and stroked her forehead while singing hymns and reading to her from the Bible. Later that evening, she was gone. Just like that. 
A flood of memories has been rushing in. She was curious about people and about things. My aunt introduced me to camping, instilling into me a love for the outdoors. Although she didn’t take to the stream with me, her curiosity got the best of her when I returned to camp with my catch of trout. As we cleaned the fish together, she plucked out the little heart which was still beating, and I wondered how it could still be pumping when the fish looked dead on the outside. We marveled at the spectacle for a little while, then resumed getting our fish ready for the grill. Strange, the things we remember.

Thanks in part to my aunt and in part to how I’m wired, spending time in the outdoors is one way I recover my God-given curiosity and re-center myself in God’s purpose and mission. I’m not talking about finding a cave or monastery every time we need these reminders. While these have their place in soul-care, so does a good dose of fun, just creating space to reflect and spend some time disengaging our preoccupied minds and warming our hearts that naturally grow cold and unfeeling when we don’t unplug.

My aunt’s personal struggle to hold on to those final hours of life were hard to watch. There is nothing care-free about the fight between life and death. It’s never easy to let go. That is why those moments seemed so out of character for her. Claudie…my fun, playful, curious, unselfish, loving aunt. She was passing through the valley of death on her way to eternal life. It’s a passage we all must take at some point, but even the darkest valleys hold purpose:

“...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable…When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.””

— I Corinthians 15:50, 54

Death eventually gets swallowed up in victory, but it doesn’t go without a fight. I’m thankful that when it does leave, it’s a complete devouring. Life that is truly life will reign supreme. That’s purpose on steroids!

And that’s the ultimate promise, but for the time being we are helping ourselves and others stay clear and on mission. We see the connection between the promise of eternal life and our purpose here on the face of the earth. How you do that and in whatever context, my hope is that you live and serve out of a strong personal sense of purpose and mission.

Why have you been sent? What is the purpose of your mission? How might a regular practice of retreat bring greater clarity to these big questions? Here’s to knowing the WHY and staying the course!