William Bridges wrote an awesome book: “Managing Transitions”. In it, he describes transitions as having three primary stages which are basically: Letting Go, The Nebula, and a New Direction.
The first is letting go – knowing what you are letting go and then doing it.
The second is the hardest, and the point of my pondering today – the in between time. His description reminds me of a nebula on Star Trek – everything is fuzzy and the instruments don’t work that well. In fact, sometimes the ‘instruments’ or perceivers in general show false readings – danger over here, we are about to implode, there are Klingons, no wait, Romulans, no wait, it’s our shadow… on the starboard bow.
What do we do when everything seems to be awry? How can we keep our balance on a ship in the midst of the storm? By keeping our eyes on the One who has an eternal perspective. I am always brought to stability when I remember the apostles, completely freaked out in the middle of the storm, and Jesus, asleep in the boat.
God really does have a different perspective than I do. When I hear His voice in the back of my head – “steady, steady on”, I know that Jesus is indeed asleep in the bottom of the boat – He knows the future, and sees solutions for all that trouble me.
I can relax and stop being so frantic. The nebula is just a cloud in space, and God directs the wind. Eventually, the cloud will lift and the instruments will read true again. In the mean time, the Word remains unchanging – I can trust God to give me wisdom for today and faith for the journey.
Staying Focused 