5 survival strategies for in-between seasons

Dan and I are in the middle of a transition. Our house is being turned upside down, rearranged, and enlarged. 

Which necessitated a move into our honeymoon carriage.

 

There are minor inconveniences with backyard-trailer-living. The water tank is small, which changes how we shower (water on-off-on-off). And Dan has to “play in the sewer” every few days to empty the gray and black water. (Too much information? Sorry.) 

But we unrolled the awning partway, and hung patio lights, and parked our Adirondack chairs beneath, and stacked firewood in an old cast iron kettle, and hung a wreath on the back of the Jeep.

 

And we are cozy and warm inside this lovely tiny home.

 

What do we do, though, when life throws some epic in-between seasons at us?

Dan and I both lost spouses to cancer. In my case, that season also included joblessness and financial reversals and a live-in mom sinking into Alzheimer’s.

I remember waiting for things to get better.

But not patiently. I wasn’t waiting patiently. I wanted to know when and how the wilderness years would end.

The thing is, we can’t know those things.

Priscilla Shirer poses these questions about in-between seasons:

Are you willing to stay committed and faithful to the journey when there is nothing extraordinary to report? Willing to stay forward-facing? Willing to keep up a sense of holy anticipation, eager to see what [God] has in store for you next?

In time, I learned deeper faith as God taught me to be still, to wait patiently, to trust Him.

And in all that waiting and trusting, He taught me to notice my brimming life even with all the losses.

You’ve experienced your own hard and holy in-between places.

Like, the season between losing a job … and finding new employment.

Between your child walking away from you … and your prodigal returning.

Between a cancer diagnosis … and a clean bill of health.

Between beginning the adoption process … and when your child/ren arrive home.

Between brainstorming over a new career, higher education, a new business … and realizing the vision.

Waiting.

Consider these 5 survival strategies for those in-between places:

1. What if we could be all there, not in the past and not in a hopeful different future, but right there in between? 

2. What if we could—figuratively speaking—hang lights and stack firewood and fold plaid blankets to make the transitional space as cozy and inviting as possible? 

3. What if we could continue living forward, even though some aspects won’t be how we want life to unfold?

4. What if we could look outwardly in our in-between season and help ease the burden of others around us?

5. What if, as a survival tactic, we could practice speaking gratitude despite loss, uncertainty, deep disappointment, heartbreak?

Priscilla Shirer finished her thoughts with these words:

Trust God. Believe that if he has positioned you in-between for now, this is where you’ll grow nearer to Him and where you’ll be best prepared for what lies ahead. 

For now, be in-between.