Column: The in-between

Friends, I am SOOOO sorry that I forgot to post this on Friday! I was in such a rush to enjoy my extended holiday weekend that I didn't do it on Wednesday...apologies! Anywho, even though it's a bit dated, here's my most recent column. I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it and share it with your followers and such.

original publication date: Friday, November 28, 2014
Random Writer
The in-between 

Ah, there it is. The sound of the last car driving away from the Thanksgiving gathering, the pop of the Tupperware as the leftovers from yesterday's dinner are today's lunch. (For some reason, my family has a cross of lunch and dinner with a 2 p.m. meal.) The calendar says that Thanksgiving's over, but I have to admit that still, I'm not quite ready to make the Christmas transition.

I'll say it...I'm a nerd. I'm very big on chronology, and to me December equals Christmas. Mentally, I can't enjoy the music and decorations until December 1 displays on my phone and wall calendar. And some years, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems so long that I'm in this holiday limbo of sorts.

Basically, I'm just waiting.

And overall, I'm not really good at it.

The concept of waiting isn't new to me. In fact, it's been staring me dead-straight in the face for several months now, as the plans I made for myself crumbled around me and I didn't know where to go from there. Part of that may have been due to the fact that I took that journey alone without truly calling on God. Yes, I shared my plans with Him and even prayed in depth to Him about it all, but at the end of the day His plan wasn't mine and I failed to realize that. I was in denial.

And in these few months, I have to be honest and say that I haven't waited well. This "in-between" from summer's end through the fall and now as winter approaches has been rough. We've all been in that place before, no matter what season we're in--some days, you just wake up lost. You don't know where to begin again, or if you have an idea of where to start, you're so scared because you fear what's in store or how it might play out.

But as of late, I'm so thankful that God has used His words of truth and wisdom and conviction to tell me that the transitionary periods that seem weird or lonely to us are meant for growth. For knowledge. For truly leaning on Him instead of falling back on our own plans.

Take Joseph for example. He knew the plan God had for his life, but the path that led him there was a rocky one--from being sold by his brothers, to Potiphar's house, to prison and his eventual role in leadership.

Abraham was told he would be the father of many nations, but waited years before he and Sarah had a son of their own.

Moses had to take on Pharaoh with the plagues before the Israelites were freed, and even after that, they wandered the desert for years on end.

Today, most of us don't have that awareness of what's in store. We as Christ-followers live by faith. And if we do know what God has called us to, in most cases it's not a quick trip. It spans time and valleys of pain and mountains of successes.

But it's during that interim where we make the choice. Do I wait well? Or do I wait woefully? Between now and December 1, that wait will take no effort on my part--I'll be listening to Christmas music by Monday. But looking back on my own life, even though I haven't waited well in a lot of situations, I can see how God brought me through and is continually shaping me. Most of the time, what He had in store was so much better than what I could have wanted for myself. And in the various journeys that God puts each of us on, I hope we can all use the in-between to cling to His word and His ways.