Today’s Author: Julene Hawkins
Looking out my kitchen window to the tree across the yard, the first signs of fall are approaching. Where did Summer go and how is it already over? I find myself, like the tree across from me, in another state of transition. This transition is a little more foreign to me. For the first time in the last 18 years, I will not be starting school next week. September used to always come with certainty. New pencils, books, notebooks, fun colored pens, and markers, and the certainty of seeing my friends and having a known schedule. All of which brought me comfort and peace. While I love school, the start of fall, and the return to familiar places and faces, I have never been one to love transitions.
For the past year and a half, I have felt in a constant state of transition. From the start of the pandemic; to summer jobs and internships falling through; to moving; to a new zoom school year and online clinicals; to my college graduation (watching the ceremony on the tv in my parents living room was not how I pictured the moment); to moving in with my grandma to be a caregiver; to becoming a registered nurse; to starting here as the new Youth Director of Prince of Peace; the transitions and changes have seemed endless. And there are days where I drive home from the hospital after a hard shift and simply call out to God and whisper “why?”. In those quiet nights in my car driving home from the hospital late at night, through the waves of anger, guilt, and heartbreak, God is there. Accompanying me in the anger, hurt, fear, and reassuring me through the next transition. God transforms my vision—one which would prefer more comfort and less change—and reveals Their vision for humanity and rather my role in it. I pray that if you are struggling with the multitude of transitions like I am, that you too may find peace in God’s transformations.
When the pandemic began, I prayed that we, as a global community, would come out of this better. And while the pandemic is far from being over, I am renewed that despite the ever-changing reality we live into, that there is radical hope for a better tomorrow. Whether this finds you in grief, uncertainty, fear, gratitude, radical hope, or some complex mixture of all of the above, I hope you find God with you in the transitions, transforming you to take on all that is to come.
Let us pray,
Hey God, we are struggling and we need you. Be with us in the transitions. In the new school year. In the continued uncertainty of the pandemic, climate change, and social injustice. Be with us as we try to navigate what it means to live into your call for our lives and to serve our neighbors with all that we are and do. As another season falls upon us, we pray for the peace and comfort of your presence in our lives and our continued connection with one another, even at a safe distance. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.
“Mid-week devotions are authored by members of our community. If you are interested in creating a trio of reflections to be shared on an upcoming Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday contact Pastor Peter.“