Transition – Frustration or Expectation?

By Helen Jesze, 6th March 2015, Nr. 2

„My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth: The time of the singing of the birds is come. And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land… Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away,“

Song of Solomon 2, 10-12, 13b KJV

You may be wondering what ‘Transition’ has to do with this Bible reading! Let me explain. Last week we looked at „A New Season“, and compared it to the season of Spring and the ushering in of new seasons in our lives. At that time, I wrote about just the first flowers and leaves showing themselves, but there was still a lot of barrenness to be seen in Nature. There was still morning ground-frost and light snow, and in the past, I have even seen snow at Easter time.

But between the two stages of a Winter landscape and Springtime is a time of transition. You cannot turn Spring on like turning a light-switch on in a dark room, and suddenly it is flooded with light. This season comes gradually, with one day bare earth, then the first tiny green shoots and buds, increasing daily until we have the final fulfillment.

Our lives are also filled with times of transition. There are two ways we can approach transition. Perhaps we are trying to get from „A“ to „B“, but everything seems to be held up. Our prayers do not seem to be getting through. Outwardly nothing or little has changed. This transition time can be a few weeks, but also take months or years! Frustration causes us to become impatient and angry; we sometimes stop going to church or reading our Bible. The devil says to us it is all in vain, that God has forgotten you anyway! This is not true, and satan is the Father of lies!

As we grow and mature in our Christian walk, we realise that God is not just interested in getting us from „A“ to „B“. He may show us something from „F“ or „G“, and we cannot understand why this should be, but God sees the whole picture, not just today. When he is working on „F“ and „G“ and we are still cross because he has not shown us everything from „A“ and „B“, later we learn to understand his ways better; we believe that he is planting a deposit in our life which will be used later on in a way we could not imagine. We may meet a person and it does not seem very important at the time, but later, that contact will be the very thing we need, to take us to the next step.

We may be building for Today and Tomorrow but God builds for Eternity!

Are you going through a time of transition at the moment? I would encourage you today to examine this in your life. Are you chafing at the bit, seething with frustration, or are you developing an attitude of : „Well, Lord, you know best. Let patience have her perfect work in me. Prepare me for my next season!“

Frustration is not the only attitude we can develop. The other day I was standing at the kitchen window looking out at our front garden. My husband, George, said to me,
„What are you doing?“
„I’m looking at my ornamental cherry tree!“ I replied
„But the branches are all bare. What is there to see?!“
„Oh, I can see it covered in beautiful pink and white blossom, with the wind blowing a few petals down like bridal confetti!“ I answered. He looked rather strangely at me but after nearly forty-nine years of marriage he soon realised what I was meaning, and followed my train of thought!

You see, I have a memory, I can remember what the tree had looked like in Spring before, and I was looking forward to when the first buds would come, then fresh green leaves and finally it would burst into bloom. With what type of pictures are you filling your mind and spirit? Are they always pictures of the barren, unchanged situation before you, or are they pictures filled with faith and expectation that God is moving on your behalf, although you do not see it at present? Of course, the cherry tree is a very simple illustration, and many of our transition, frustration times are far more difficult to go through than this.

Susan’s story
Several years ago we met a lady in the South of England. I will call her Susan. She was thirty-nine years old and unmarried, and had just returned from a short-term missionary trip. Shortly before, when she was in Africa, she had finally given up her struggle of believing God for a marriage partner. She told me how she had prayed: „Lord, I give it all to you! If you want me to get married, then you must do it. I am not looking any more for a husband!“

She had only been back in England a few days, when there was a ring at the doorbell. On opening it, she saw Rev. Paul McIntyre (name changed), a Church of England vicar from a well-known church in London, standing there. Several years before that, Susan had attended his church, then after she moved house, they had had no contact. She could not imagine what he had come about, but she asked him in and they sat down in the living-room. Over a cup of tea and biscuits, Paul did not seem to want to talk very much, but obviously had something important on his mind. He suddenly blurted out:

„Susan, I have come to ask you to be my wife!“ Susan was flabbergasted for Paul was a bachelor, several years older than her, and nobody thought he would ever marry! Paul explained what had been happening.

„You have probably heard how God has been bringing renewal to my church, and we have had so many people getting saved, homeless people coming in off the street and no end of people in need we have tried to help. We have opened a house for homeless women and girls, but there have been so many instances where I have found it very difficult, as a single man. Every time I have prayed about it, the Lord has been saying to me I should get married! Then when I said, Lord, you know I have not considered marrying and anyway, I have no time to look for a wife! Then your face always came up before me. This has happened several times. So, Susan, here I am! Will you marry me, please?!“

To cut a long story short, they fell deeply in love and they did marry! The wedding service which was attended by several hundred guests went on for a very long time, with wonderful praise and worship. After the honeymoon, when they went back to Paul’s parish, Susan found that every lesson she had learnt during those long, frustrating, lonely years she was able to use now in the ministry with her new husband. She fitted in like a hand into a glove and they had many happy years together, until Paul went home to be with the Lord.

In our Bible reading today, the young man calls to his girlfriend to come away with him, for Winter has gone and Spring with its full beauty is here. The landscape is filled with beautiful colour and perfume, and birds fill the air with their songs. It is the time for Love! The time of waiting and ‘transition’ is past and ‘realisation’ has come.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, my Heavenly Bridegroom, you are calling me today to spend time with you, to come aside with you, Thankyou for your tender love and all the beauty you bring into my life. Help me in my times of transition, to seek your way and timing, and not the immediate fulfillment of my wishes.

Help me to hold onto you in every difficult situation, and let faith spring up and take deep root in my heart, that nothing will shake me from the realisation that you know what you are doing, and I shall see the fulfillment of what I have believed! Thankyou, Lord Jesus! Amen.