” The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
Lamentation 3:22-23
There’s something about standing on the brink of a new year that causes my heart and mind to wonder to all the possibilities of what could be. As we leave behind one year with its joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and look ahead to the fresh, clean slate of what awaits us in 2021, there are often changes we want to make and areas we want to develop in. But what takes us from where we are to where we want to be is a period of transition. If we can adapt, endure, and keep our eyes on the horizon of where we’re heading, we’ll come out transformed.
Over the last couple of months, we’ve been renovating. We changed our garage into a beautiful office space and counselling room and zhuzhed up our kitchen. It took discomfort, time, energy, and commitment to complete the projects. At times it looked more like destruction at a construction site than anything else, but we kept our eyes on the end goal.
Whether we’re renovating an area in the home or an area of our heart and life, the process of transition is often messy, but it’s a necessary part of growth and change.
If there are some changes you want to make next year, know that there will be a transition period. It may require you to get your hands dirty and endure the discomfort and challenges that change brings, but you can do it. You are stronger and more able than you realise because the King of Kings empowers and sustains you.
Don’t get caught up in the process and focus only on the mess that’s around you. When we focus on the dust, rubble and dirt, we take our eyes off the horizon of where God is leading us and we lose sight of where we’re going. Not all mess is bad. Sometimes it just means something beautiful is changing and developing in your life.
PAUSE – PRAY – PROGRESS
- How do you handle change and transition? When we have goals we don’t reach or make changes and fail, we often personalize and internalize the failure and think there’s something wrong with us. When perhaps the problem lies not with you or the goal, but the way you handle change.
- What is your horizon of where the Lord is leading you and what transformation do you want to see in your heart, life, home or relationships?