Iknow I have written about seasons of life before. And those of us who are older can definitely look back over the years and see seasons. Seasons of joy, heartache, difficulty, tragedy…the one thing they have in common is that they pass. But as seasons begin to fade and we begin a new one, how ready are we to step into the new season?

It’s been my experience that human beings do not like change. We build our little worlds and operate in them. We become comfortable and satisfied. Now for sure, if a season of life is tough, we don’t mind seeing it fade away. But if this time we are in feels pretty good…we don’t want to move out of it.

No one seems to mind leaving winter behind and seeing spring bring a new kind of beautiful to the world. Even summer is welcome though it brings heat and humidity. And Fall. We are so ready for cooler days and color and harvest…but very few want winter. Some of us look forward to snow skiing and fires in the fireplace, but we are a smaller number.

It is the inability to move on, to keep walking toward Yeshua I remain concerned for.  The inability to leave a season behind and anticipate what Abba God has next is something we need to consider. My paternal grandmother was a dear soul. She loved us with a love that saw no faults. She was our faithful cheerleader. She just could not believe that the ones she loved could ever do anything wrong. Most certainly, love can be blind.

But she couldn’t move on. My Pappy died in 1963. They had been married since she was 16 or 17. And when he died, she just stopped. For a while she tried to go to church. She did some things here and there but she soon just stopped. Oh, you could go see her and she was thrilled to no end to see you. She didn’t want to go to your house though. She just wanted to stay home…at her house. She did make tea cakes for us. We’d go get them and visit. But still, she had absolutely no interest in returning to the world of the living.

I’ve been thinking about change so much recently. I’ve always thought you had to continue on…keep living…being faithful to who Abba God has called you to be. We cannot just sit down and stop. Adversity comes to us all. It must be our teacher, not our executioner.

With graduations this time of year, changing seasons are so easily discerned. Young men and women moving out of school into jobs. High school graduates going to college, trade school, and possibly working too. These all create a huge paradigm shift. The family unit changes. As they marry and create their own homes, there is another shift, and when babies come…another shift.

And on it goes. As the “older generation” our role in the family and community changes. We must embrace the new season. We must allow change. As my Dad got older, he would always tell me, “Gwen. You’ve got to be able to change. Otherwise, you get left behind.” He is right.

Embracing change. Sometimes joyful. Sometimes gut-wrenching. It’s ok. Abba has all we need for us to transition well. His Word is full of direction and instruction as we navigate a new season of life. And He has promised to never leave or forsake us.

I recently read this, “Faithfulness is getting up every day and doing what needs to be done, not just what we want to do.” (I wish I could remember where I read this so I could give the proper credit.) I find this particularly hard in the midst of great change. Maybe because transition/change brings uncertainty.

Sometimes, the greatest gift we can give ourselves, our family, and our Abba God is just one thing…getting up every day and doing the next necessary thing. Before we realize what has happened, we have transitioned into the new season. We are back walking with Him.