Yay! I'm back!! I've had one heck of a week off, but am so grateful for everything that has been happening in this transition period. From moving into my newly-rented house to helping lead a seventeen-man worship team to selling my teenage dream car, this week has been chock-full of change, tears, laughter, stress, productivity, and blessing. Through it all, I am finally starting to feel settled and ready for this new chapter of life to begin.
Through the craziness of this week, I started to think about the concept of 'seasons' of life. Most of us tend to go through life completely oblivious to what God is doing until he's done doing it. Our 'seasons' come to an end, and we eventually realize that we had been completely unaware of the extensive goodness God showed us during that time. We don't appreciate the sweetness of the season until it has passed us by.
I was reminded of this, funny enough, through the process of selling my car. Guys... I cried five times. Not just cried, but sobbed. Snot bubbles and all. For those of you who don't believe me, here's a picture that my Dad took and FACEBOOKED. The meanest.
I was so unbelievably distraught, and had no idea why. After some thought, I realized that I was not only grieving the loss of a vehicle, but of the season it represented. I got my little white Jeep Wrangler when I was seventeen years old, and, at the time, it was my dream car. It represented freedom, independence, and my first real step towards adulthood. It carried me through the majority of my tumultuous teen years, saw Jesus save me, and was a consistent presence in the intense season of growth the last two years have been. Selling my Jeep so that I could move on to a more responsible vehicle (preferably one with more than 12 MPG...), did not only mean saying goodbye to a big hunk of metal that carried me places. It meant acknowledging that I was becoming a real adult. I now am beginning to understand what the 'independence' and 'adulthood' I had once thought came with a car really means.
An extremely full season of growth in my life is coming to an end, and I feel its finality in every change, both big and small. I am taking time to reflect and praise God for all that he has done in the past couple of years, remembering to pause and reflect before moving on to the season ahead.
The Hebrew language uses a word that I am now coming to deeply understand and appreciate: 'selah'. It is hard to accurately translate, but people who are smarter than me have determined that it means something along the lines of: pause, and reflect. It is used in the Psalms as a break in lyric. It calls you to stop and reflect on what was just said before you move on to the next stanza. As I feel a shift in seasons occurring in my life, I am purposely choosing to allot a time of 'selah'. God has moved mightily in this past season, and I am so grateful for the reminder to pause and glorify him by reflecting on what he has done. He will move in different, but equally mighty ways in this new upcoming season, and I cannot wait to witness more of his goodness in it. Until then: goodbye, Jeep. Goodbye, summer. Goodbye, teenage Maddie. Selah.
An extremely full season of growth in my life is coming to an end, and I feel its finality in every change, both big and small. I am taking time to reflect and praise God for all that he has done in the past couple of years, remembering to pause and reflect before moving on to the season ahead.
The Hebrew language uses a word that I am now coming to deeply understand and appreciate: 'selah'. It is hard to accurately translate, but people who are smarter than me have determined that it means something along the lines of: pause, and reflect. It is used in the Psalms as a break in lyric. It calls you to stop and reflect on what was just said before you move on to the next stanza. As I feel a shift in seasons occurring in my life, I am purposely choosing to allot a time of 'selah'. God has moved mightily in this past season, and I am so grateful for the reminder to pause and glorify him by reflecting on what he has done. He will move in different, but equally mighty ways in this new upcoming season, and I cannot wait to witness more of his goodness in it. Until then: goodbye, Jeep. Goodbye, summer. Goodbye, teenage Maddie. Selah.
snot bubbles really? Glad dad didn't catch that on film! Love you and am proud of your growth and your determination to take advantage of all that God is teaching you thru your Selah! I am so greek!
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful for you and my ragamuffin blog posts in my inbox. It may seem like our lives are wildly different but at the core, we are the same. This post ministered to me in so many ways. And, I know EXACTLY how you feel about your Jeep. I have a VW that we probably should sell but I've been holding on to with dear life. I finally talked to Rick about it and the reasons why I'm so emotionally attached. So much of the same, of what it once represented in my life. Love you and your heart so much. I think Rick and I would love to go on a double date sometime too ;)
ReplyDeleteI am SO GLAD it spoke to you. I have found that, even through radically different situations, God works in a lot of the same ways in all of us. Love that. He totally fosters community by doing that.
DeleteYes puhLEASE to the double date. I would love that so much.