Transitions

If you were to look at my bookshelf, you would see that not only do I
have a penchant for action/adventure novels but that I also have books like
Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, Ghandi’s ‘Story of my experiments with truth’, Nelson
Mandela’s autobiography ‘A long walk to freedom’ and the Bible, all of which
I try to read. I read and search, I debate with family and friends attempting to
uncover my own passions and realities. I go through the pages of other people’s
discoveries and journeys to try and find something applicable, maybe something
that will give meaning to my own discoveries and journeys, to assist me as I walk
through my life. Ever changing from a child, to a pubescent teenager discovering
my body and hormones and guys, to a young adult trying to find direction and
more guys, to a wife finding the guy and hopefully, one day, a mother and
grandmother. We all have different journeys but we all change. We change our
bodies, we change our clothes, we change schools, we change jobs, we change
homes, we change allegiances, we change our attitude, we change loves, we
change our minds. We change!

Sometimes these transitions are the source of joy and other times of
sorrow, but there is no doubt that we are changeable creatures. I’ve learnt
that change can be hard, but change can also be forgiving and it gives me the
opportunity to realise and understand my purpose. And yes, in the depths of my
mind there lurks an awareness of types of change that would devastate me. We
can’t always choose change but, a lot of the time, change happens as a reaction.
I changed cities because of a broken heart, I changed jobs because I got bored,
I changed friends because I realised they weren’t really friends – I changed a lot
to escape. There came a point when after all that change I realised I still had no
purpose. Life was changing me, but not in ways that brought me any joy, it was
just happening and I had no control over it.

In time, my concept of what my faith meant to me changed, which
changed everything. I didn’t want my life to be filled with meaningless
acts. I wanted something more; I wanted to change myself and not just my
circumstances. Moving on from familiar ground is daunting – there are so many
unforeseen events that could affect you in ways you are not prepared for. But
if you hold on firmly to a sense of meaning rather than meaninglessness, if you
boldly and purposefully look into the future and decide that you will change it,
then you will not be a victim, just allowing life to happen to you, you will be an
entrepreneur, carving your path and chasing your dreams.

Transitioning between seasons in life is an exciting opportunity to accept
that we are creative and wonderful women, and that whilst the road ahead may
seem uncertain, we certainly have a creator who created us with invaluable
beauty and potential. Life can be crazy, cultures and values change around us,
but there is an unchanging God who always believes in us.

By Glenda Robinson