One day last week, my son and I were talking about books, and I offhandedly mentioned that I missed teaching English because I used to love reading To Kill a Mockingbird with my students. “It was my favorite,” I said. “Sometimes it makes me sad that I don’t get to do that anymore.”
Alex was quiet for a few seconds, and then he piped up with a question: “So Mama, does that mean you don’t like your new job?”
That’s not what I said at all, of course. My new(-er) job is all manner of fun. But I understood that Alex heard my words and then arrived at a conclusion: if I miss what I used to do, then I must not be happy in what I’m currently doing.
I assured him I love the job I have now, and then I said this: “Just because God calls you to something new doesn’t mean you won’t miss the old thing.”
Oh, y’all. It’s so important that we get that.
And if we have any questions about whether or not that’s normal or biblical or whatever, we need only look at the apostle Paul.
I mean, you probably know this already, but Paul moved around a lot. He would minister in one area, and when God would call him to the next place, he’d get up and go. But we see over and over in his letters that he missed the people and places he’d left behind. He was invested in them and cared deeply for them, but he valued obedience more than his relational or personal comfort.
The older you get, the more you’ll find yourself—like Paul—immersed in transition. You’ll move to a different city, you’ll buy a house in a new neighborhood, you’ll change jobs, you’ll meet new people, you’ll join a different church, and you’ll serve in foreign countries. Lord willing, you’ll do all of those things under the covering and counsel of the Holy Spirit. And each time the Lord calls you to something new, you’ll have two specific opportunities:
- To leave the old thing with deep gratitude for what the Lord taught you and how He changed you through those people and that place.
- To walk into the new thing with your heart and your arms wide open, ready for a new adventure with the Lord and the people waiting there for you.
At some point you’re going to miss people or place or position. It’s a natural reaction to change. After all, we can’t compartmentalize the Christian life, so we don’t finish one phase of our lives, put it on a shelf, and walk away from it forever. We’re constantly learning, constantly synthesizing, and constantly marveling at the amazing tapestry God weaves together. He is always—always—at work in our circumstances as He shapes us into the person He’s calling us to be. It won’t always be easy.
But from that perspective, we can look at the past with fondness, knowing that through it the Lord was teaching us what we needed for the here and now. And for reasons we can’t yet know or see, the present will be just as worthwhile.
1. Is there something from your past that you miss? Maybe it’s an old house, or your former church, or a certain year of school that was all sorts of awesome? Think about it, and list more than one thing if you’d like.
2. Think about this current season of your life. What do you think you’ll miss about it as you get older and move (literally and figuratively) away from it? What’s been special about it?
3. Can you look at your past and see specific ways God prepared you for your current stage of life? Explain.
4. Look up Philippians 1:8. Write, doodle, or illustrate it here.
Today’s Prayer