Lessons in Limbo, Part 2

Quick note:  we got safely moved in and had more friends and family helping us pack, load, and unload than I even realize I had!  And we are still being fed from the meals people brought us--I haven't cooked a meal yet!!  My internet, however, won't be hooked up until Friday, so you have to wait to see pictures of our house.  Meanwhile, I'm popping into the library to publish a couple drafts I've had sitting in the drafts folder.  Can't wait to catch up with my bloggy friends!)

I've been sharing recently a few of the lessons I've been learning in our recent season of job change.  I've referred to this season as a time in "limbo."  Now when I used that word, limbo, my understanding of the definition was something like "an in-between time, a time of uncertainty and being 'up in the air'."  (I didn't realize Limbo also refers to a Catholic doctrine of souls in an eternal state which is neither heaven nor hell--I learn something every day!)  But I think this very misnomer is the greatest lesson I have learned in this whole journey.

For you see, there is no such thing as "limbo" in our lives.  This. is. my. life.  Each day, each hour, each minute that I have is my life.  There is no such thing as a pause button from our lives.  I think we are inclined to see times of struggle or uncertainty, waiting or pain as a break from real life and eagerly anticipate our lives "getting back to normal."  We humans truly prefer comfort and stability and would like to rest in the sameness and security of life's routines.  If we had it our way, we would stay in the same house in the same neighborhood at the same job with the same friends with our same good health and prosperity and perhaps with our view of God relegated to His same little box where He is compartmentalized from the rest of our life.  But in His goodness, sometimes He shakes up our little comfort zones and reminds us who we are without Him.

Just as I was beginning to get this lesson, a friend posted a quote from CS Lewis on her blog:

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own' or 'real' life.  The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life-the life God is sending one day by day:  What one calls one's "real life" is a phantom of one's imagination.  C.S. Lewis

I didn't learn this lesson gracefully.  As I look back over these past four months, I can see areas where I dropped the ball as I subconsciously put my life on pause.  I told myself I would work on this character issue my child is having "once we got settled".    I let the budget go "until Alan got settled into a new job."  I postponed my weight-loss diet and put off some responsibilities while we were "out of our normal routine."

But the fact is, I am given today and I must redeem this time.  When we are in times of transition I've learned we must "do the next thing."  Whether we're preparing to move, experiencing illness, suffering the loss of a loved one, having a difficult pregnancy or sleepless nights with a newborn or changing jobs, these are the days of our lives.  It's tempting to try to live for the future thinking it will be easier when. . . (whatever your situation might be.)

If I had it to do over again, I would like to appreciate each day, address the immediate needs of that day, and look for ways to serve others rather than becoming consumed with what's going on in my own life.  There's enough going on each day, both enough to take care of and enough to appreciate, without losing today in concern for tomorrow.  As Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

As much as this season hasn't been easy, it has been a time of growth and learning and I wouldn't trade these lessons for anything.  This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  (Psalm 118:24)