A NEW SEASON
Spring is here in the Pacific Northwest. The cherry trees are budding brilliant pink and white outside the capital in Olympia, WA. I sit 10 feet away from the dome in a cafe and ponder the spring I am in, in my own life. Many of you know me and have taken a class with me but many do not. My name is Rachael Moriarty and I recently became the Director of Tools for Transcripts and owner of Classical Tools 4 Change, LLC. I have six kids, and this spring especially has been filled with many transitions. My husband, a musician in the US Navy band, recently retired after a 20 year career and my second daughter is due to graduate high school in 1 week.
Between work and homelife, I have more transitions transpiring than I do continuity. Transire is the Latin infitive for "to go across, pass over". It is one thing to move forward and another to cross over a passage. Passages come in all kinds of shapes and sizes too. Sometimes they are easy to pass over like a short foot bridge or stepping stones and other times, there are passages that require better strategy to ford. I sense that the passage I am moving through is one that requires me to seek after the still, small voice so that I can make it through to the other side with His strategy.
My husband is growing a beard. This hairy milestone, which is one many veterans choose starting from day one of freedom, is seriously cramping my style. I returned from a week long trek alone without my family and I was visually reminded of the transitions I am in just saying hello to him as I got into the car from the airport. As much as I want to support my husband and give him the space he needs to try something he has been dreaming of for 20 years, I broke down crying. All the emotions were pushed to the top because of that beard.
I am graduating my second child. I am so proud of her and grateful to God for His gift of life. Interestingly, the Latin gradus means "a step; a step climbed (on a ladder or stair); figuratively- a step toward something, a degree of something rising by stages". That is not too far off from the word transition but instead of crossing over, it is a movement up. Yet, even though I know that we are crossing the river and moving up to better things, my heart is having a hard time processing all this transition.
Fall and spring, transitional seasons, are full of storms. We can be afraid of the storms and complain about the weather but the truth is that the beauty and work of summer or the comfort and rest of winter cannot come without the transitional seasons. In fact, my favorite seasons are fall and spring and the natural beauty of these seasons actually overshadow the storms. As soon as my heart communicates being overwhelmed, I realize that I must sit in the presence of my Father so that my dry, and weary spirit can find rest in His presence and truth. Isaiah 44:3-4 "For I will pour water on the thirsy land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams."
Oh Lord, thank you for this life full of change. Your design is magnificent and births awe in us all. I pray for my own heart and the hearts of my family as we move into new and better spaces that You are taking us to. I also pray for these beautiful parents as they move forward in faith, weathering their own transitions this spring. Lord, help each of us see You in the midst of the storms. Open our eyes and let us truly see the beauty of these changes. Give us all Your perspective and lead us beside still waters, that we may find rest for our souls.