Getting from Here to There
Have you ever been feeling perfectly fine and then suddenly you bent over or turned quickly; and your back shouted, “Why did you do that?” and then your back reminded you that you did that for a couple of days afterwards?
My back is fine now. However, on our way back from Missouri, Ray and I stood by our car in my hometown, chatting with someone we know. When we said goodbye, I turned to leave and it happened. From out of nowhere, my back shouted that question to me.
You know how it is if it has ever happened to you. For a few days after that you never know when the pain will hit, but usually it is when you stand up, sit down, or lie down. It’s those transitions that get you!
When I was a young wife, one of my friends shared a lesson her mother taught her. Her mother said that she never knew how terrible she was until she became a wife and then she found it out again when she became a mother. I think she meant that intimate relationships with other people reveal our selfishness.
Life’s transitions are opportunities to follow God more closely or to slip away from Him. One of the people we were happy to see at the campus ministers’ seminar in late July was the teacher who taught Ray and me in a course on campus ministry in 1977. While participating in a panel at the seminar, our teacher talked about the importance of campus ministries because young people are so teachable during the college years.
Ray and I talked about what he said and agreed that young people are indeed very teachable during those years–they can be taught to follow God or taught to go away from Him. The world unashamedly shouts into the ears of young people in their late teens and early twenties. Sadly, parents and the church often stop offering much guidance then; and the young folks end up following those who are shouting into their ears.
This is, of course, only one of life’s challenging transitions. Newlyweds can help one another draw near to God or give each other excuses for going the other direction. New parents can rely on God and His people for help with their children or let their new busyness pull them away. New retirees can decide to use their new-found freedom to serve God more or decide to retire from both work and service in the Kingdom.
The Bible and the book of Proverbs in particular teach the importance of giving support and teaching for all those times our children need to get from here to there.
My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandment.
Proverbs 3:1
Martha Berry was a wealthy southern woman who reached out in compassion to the poor Appalachian children who lived near her family’s mansion. She eventually founded Berry College to give them a Christian education and to help them in their life transitions.