Transitions

            There's a beautiful tree at the side of my driveway. The springtime buds come out faster than can be counted (or so it seems), the summer leaves provide shade to the delicate grass below as well as a resting point for birds and insects. Squirrels race across branches (seemingly to amuse and antagonize my dogs) as the autumnal leaves boast brilliant colour changes. Now, as winter approaches, those leaves have released their hold on the branches, allowing the tree to rest and regenerate for the next cycle.

            The tree is in constant transition. It moves with the natural cycles, as do the other factors in its ecosystem. It flows with the rhythms around it, adjusting in ways that allow it not only to survive, but to thrive. Because the tree embraces these transitions, it meets God's purposes, and provides beauty to those around who might see it.

            Our lives can be like that too, when we let them. We can recognize the different seasons in our lives, and allow ourselves to change and be changed by them and through them. We can seek out new ways to contribute to the community around us, to gradually adapt to how God is inviting us to be present, in who we are and how we minister.

            If we do not, we will suffer. We will stagnate, and staying immobile in one season is incongruous to growth. A tree budding in the snow, or dropping its leaves at the start of warm sunny weather would be damaging to the overall health of the tree, in the short term and the long.

            As we begin this season of Advent, we begin the opportunity to see and embrace a new season. It is a new liturgical year, a new beginning, a time of preparation. As we begin the liturgical transition, it is my hope that we allow ourselves to be transformed by the season itself, fitting in with how God is calling us to be at this place and at this time, within this community.

            We may not understand the transitions, and they may be gradual, but when they are of God, they will always bring us to new life and new growth. For everything there is a season, Ecclesiastes reminds us, and a time for every matter under heaven. May we be open to discerning our own transitions, celebrating all that this season has to offer.