There’s lots to learn from times of transition. Last post I talked about what I’ve learned from the leaving part of moving, the packing up and preparing portion. This week’s learning is about the other side of moving. The place where you land, where the trailer opens and you step foot into your new place and reality.

What is there to learn as we venture into new places and spaces? New towns and new communities? New faces and ways of being?

4.) Finding your place

Whether it’s finding your new house, finding your way around town, or finding where you buy bananas, moving to a new place means a time of exploration and uncertainty. You are out of routine and finding your new way of doing and being. Spiritually finding your place has the same element of exploration and uncertainty. Not knowing how God has wired you to serve in this place or time. Not knowing how you fit into your community or how to ask and offer. What are the unspoken rules? What if I put my foot wrong? How do I know where to begin?

5.) Unpacked boxes

Moving takes time. Unpacking takes time. There will be people in your house before all of your boxes are unpacked. That’s ok. We all understand unpacked boxes and can eat pizza around them.

Take time with the boxes but don’t let them take root too deeply or you’ll be in boxes forever. Just like our physical boxes, if spiritual boxes stay unpacked and unexplored too long, that’s the clutter we’re not willing to deal with and the corners we don’t see. We all have spiritual boxes when new situations come into our lives. That’s ok. Just don’t leave them there.

6.) Realizing the new normal

There will come a day when you look up and recognize the new place and situation that you’re in. You will see that you’re grieving less for what was and looking forward to what is and can be. You will know where to buy bananas and lightbulbs and the name of the person behind the till. You will walk away from an interaction and take a breath and realize that you feel comfortable with who you are, where you are.
Sometimes God brings us to a place of new spiritual normal. It comes after the packages, boxes, or bags. It comes after you’ve cleaned house and left those corners behind. It comes with planting new roots and recognizing the new smells. It’s burrowing in your new shavings like a contented hamster. You look at yourself and see the process you’ve come through and think ‘yeah, God, you did that.’ And you will be glad.

There’s lots to learn on this side of moving.

Finding your place takes courage. It takes courage to step into a situation and say ‘I want to help and I need help’. The thing about courage is that it begins with first steps and first conversations. Be brave, recognize that you can invite and ask how to be involved. Find that person to ask questions of, where to go, how to serve. Don’t worry about bugging people. If they’re bothered that you asked for help, that’s likely not your issue. Find someone who isn’t bothered. My favorite people to ask are seniors. They recognize from a long life lived that it’s hard to be new and if they don’t know the answer, you bet they know someone who does.

Don’t let the boxes pile up. Have the courage to open the lid on what you own, spiritually, and sort it out. Let God show you where to put it and put it there! Your purging might not be done even if you’ve purged before. As we transition we recognize that spiritually, we are always purging and adding. There are places in us that God refines and places where he showers with abundance. It’s in his timing, but often he uses transitions to show us how he wants us to spiritually move.

There is a place of spiritual rest and realization. You will have times, after the purging, where you will feel the settled stillness that God gives. There is rest in him, there is peace in him. And from those times, often new purpose springs up. New opportunities that he brings, new people to love and care for and be in community with.

God never keeps us stagnant, as I’ve learned during this physical move. We can choose to be stagnant but when we go where he leads and explore what he has for us, there is growth and there is healing and there is good.