The Scripture ~ “Don’t always be asking, “Where are the good old days?”
Wise folks don’t ask questions like that.” Ecclesiastes 7:10 The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ Honor the space between no longer and not yet. Nancy Leon
Breath Prayer ~ I trust God
The Devotion ~
Having done the work of spiritual landscaping, preparing the soul to be spiritually rooted and grounded, it is time to turn our thoughts to how we transition to spiritual growth. Some say transition is just a nice way of saying change is coming and most would admit change can be difficult even if it is welcome. Transition often means leaving something behind that no longer serves you or those you love and being open to something new and different. Willie Stargill is quoted as saying, “life is one big transition,” implying transition is a slow, evolving process. If you google the word transition you will find a definition connected to the phase of child birth that is so fast and intense it can literally take breath away. Research shows that most of us don’t willing seek change or embrace transitions until we are forced to, even it is promised to be good for us!
A recent podcast on “Faith and the Nones,” [those who claim no faith affiliation] invited folks under the age of 35 to call in and discuss where they were at with their faith. The ‘nones’ is the group that often identifies as spiritual but not religious. Most callers spoke of having roots in a faith tradition but were currently struggling to find a church community that honored the transitions they were experiencing in their faith and the world around them. They still believed in something greater than self and they were for the most part open to a religious and spiritual journey. In the conversations and the tweets offered during the program there was a lot of hope for the future, and a lot of trust in God to guide this hard time of transition for the church. There was also a call to people in churches to listen and participate in the transition with this next generation.
How we approach transitions in our yoga practice can inform how we approach transitions in our faith lives. Transitions in yoga from one asana to another are thought to be as important if not more important than the asana itself. We approach the transitions listening to our body, honoring the space between where we are and where we are going and we trust our bodies to guide the change. In the same way with our faith, we honor the space between ‘no longer and not yet’ with the promise and wisdom of God as our guide. We trust God to help us embrace transitions and let go of fear.
