Allow me to share my own personal reflections about what I am thinking regarding "the rest of my life."
As I think out loud regarding my own life, it may give you a portal into your own life. Through what I share, it may become a window for you to stare into regarding your own life and future. My hope is that these reflections will give you some language and tools to help you navigate your own choices ahead and to help you reflect back on choices you made in the past--be they good and healthy choices or decisions that you can know glean wisdom from which become an invitation to choose more wisely in the future.
Here, I may offer you some language which may be a bit different than you are accustomed to now. Some of the language, stories and insight I will share here are the fruit of my year long path of discernment. So I am your companion in this journey to both understand and explore discernment and finding great clarity about our future pathways. I’ll tell you about this later.
When we travel in a foreign country and hear a different language, it can take a while to learn a few basic sentences to navigate our way through that foreign and distant place. Learning some basic language about the landscape of re-positioning is key in not only growing in our own self-awareness and God-awareness but also in terms of knowing where we are right now and where it is we want to head out to next on this incredible journey called life.
When it comes to knowing God's will for our lives and how to "do" God's will; how to make wise decisions and move with some sense of inner assurance that what we have decided, is in fact--God's best for our lives--this is what this is all about. So my hope is that this will help anyone at any stage or season of life that wants to live with a greater sense of confidence; a deeper sense of peace and an inner knowing that we are truly not alone in this journey--but that we can deeply sense God is with us--every step of our way.
So, the language of our soul, caring for our soul and discerning our future lives in some respect is warranted not matter at what intersection your find yourself at right now. You may be single, thinking of marriage. You may be married, considering children. You may be in your second job realizing that this job is not what you signed up for and you want to hunt again for the right fit. You may be newly divorced, a widow or just buried a parent. You may be full or energy or experiencing burnout. You may be, like me on the threshold of what is called, “retirement” but somehow knowing that you don’t want to quit—you really want to re-position yourself to do what you’ve felt drawn to do for a long, long time. But, before we set out on a course and lock in our GPS on a new direction, let’s first, get some language and some new tools down to help us make wise choices and sense that God is in this deeper work of what I am calling re-positioning.
Re-Thinking Our Lives - All of us, to one degree or another, are re-thinking our lives. As the world changes, so we do also. Just think of it—the iPhone came onto the scene in 2007 and look at how all of our lives have changed with the times. We may not all like what has happened but nevertheless, we are all citizens on this globe we call home and we all need more light for some of the dark paths we must navigate. With the advent of email, technology and social media, all of our lives have been impacted to some degree.
In the light of current events, nuclear threats and such hatred going rampant, the world is not the same as it was. It feels more tense; more fragile and more dangerous than at any other time in my life time. There’s angst. There’s fear. There is uncertainty. All of this combined with our own personal circumstances, needs and desires. All combines, I'm not sure I have met a person who is not--at some level--re-thinking their lives.
It’s important to realize that when I speak of re-positioning our lives I am not speaking of a linear, programmatic and cookie cutter way to do this. To re-position one’s life begins with understanding some language of the soul—the kind of terms and vocabulary that every soul knows deep down inside. It is like a reading primer that some teachers used in our early grade school experience when we were introduced to words, phrases and finally sentences and paragraphs to begin to learn to read.
To learn to read the deeper movements of the soul—the shifts, urgings, longings, aches and consolations of our soul is all apart of what we will explore.
What “repositioning” means - Let’s begin with getting our minds and hearts wrapped around the word: “re-positioning.”
The word, “re-position” means to shift—to adjust. Our internal shifts happen in us as we journey through life making modifications and adjustments. We have been told that the “only constant in life is change” and with this reality, then we are the ones who must make some shifts to re-position ourselves.
This adjustment—this amending of our lives—this re-thinking of our future direction is what I call “re-positioning.”
We are seeing major re-positioning of people groups around our world who are forced to re-position themselves physically because of threat, war or persecution. We call such people refugees. They are fleeing one place and in route to a safer, more hospitable place. They may be forced to flee. They may not want to flee. They may dread the entire journey of fleeing but nevertheless, some kind of physical shift is necessary. But, long before these people groups began to move physically from one place to another, there began an inner shifting—a changing of the tectonic plates of their worlds that motivated them to shift from one place to another. They came to their senses; they somehow intuitively knew; they had what we call a "sixth sense" that informed them that they needed to go. They were under pressure—perhaps pressure they could not take any longer. They were seeking a better life—a better way to do their lives. Their anxiety over what might happen motivated them into action. And also, most refugees do not flee alone. They band together and move in mass to a safer new world.My ancestors immigrated to the United States from Ireland. Something in their souls was stirring. Something inside their hearts was pulling them forward to both leave something familiar behind but also to reach ahead for something that was "not yet".
My very life right now stands on the shoulders of men and women, who stood up and moved out and ventured forth. As you think back on your own ancestors, perhaps you will be able to grow in a deeper appreciation of what they did--of what they did for you.
Clearly it is one thing to have to be a refugee and a whole other concept of re-positioning one's life. But what is important to remember that somewhere along the way--whether one is a refugee or is simply re-positioning one's life--there was first some kind of inner movement that gave birth to an action--an action that required a shift, change, new season or new beginning of some form or another.
We are all on a journey. We are all pilgrims - The language of the Bible offers us a word that helps define who all of us are as refugees, white-collar migrant workers, blue collar machine workers, medical professionals, pastors or global leaders—we are all pilgrims. We are all on a journey—a journey that defines us throughout our lives on the long road to heaven. The Psalmist knew this language well when he wrote “Blessed are those whose strength is in you,whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”—Psalm 84:5 (NIV).
Pilgrimage best defines our lives on planet Earth. We start out at in utero in our mother's womb, following a path in our formative years and building travelling companions or friends and navigate the many paths ahead of us. There are the choices of a spouse to consider; the kind of job that we feel like that fits us and we are gifted for; where we want to live out of all the choices before us and the pathways of parenting, living out of lives through seasons, trials, joys and sorrows. Each of these seasons are really times of re-positioning ourselves for the next leg of the journey. From womb to tomb, we wake up to the fact that we all are pilgrims on a journey.
When author and scholar Eugene Peterson finds the right and descriptive words to translate for us the Psalmist’s intent in his sacred poem, Peterson helps us with these words:“And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel;”—Psalm 84:5, The Message.
Our lives are the very roads that God travels. You you imagine for a moment what this might actually look like and feel like? God is on this journey with us--sometimes a silent companion; sometimes a companion who might pull the rug out from under us to get our attention in some way; and in all ways God is present whether God is seen or unseen. Our own lives are the pathway that God hovers about and within on the long road home. God is our Companion on this pilgrimage and as we age, as we journey forward, this awareness grows deeper and deeper within us to truly know—God is with us. He is not only “with us” but God is in us---moving within us to awaken us; give us keener insight and understanding about our journey.
As we shift; as we transition; as we re-position, we can be assured that God is moving on our inner roadways of longing and desire; lament and grief and fears and peace. Knowing this—is like recognizing some road signs that are posted along the path we’ve been trekking. When we re-position, we can learn to pay attention to the inner road signs--the inner movements of God within us to nudge us this way or that way. Discernment is about knowing the inner trail markings that can and do offer us the invitation to follow with clarity and certainty. ( I will continue this in future blogs and I would invite your comments, feedback and insights! Please consider posting your thoughts and reflections here on the blog to allow others to have insight and encouragement!)