One thing that’s true about the world, there will always be change. Changing seasons, changing economy, and changing work culture.
For much of my life, I sought out change as a way of avoiding change. Do you catch my drift?
I would want something different, desire something new, go out and get it or do it and realize it wasn’t all that it promised.
I would change jobs, and then realize I still brought the same old me along. It even happened when I moved countries and changed the hemispheres!
In the wonderful book, The Way of Transition, William Bridges writes about how change can be a type of addiction, “it is an escape from the real issues raised by our lives.”
Bridges goes on to say that where change is a situational shift, transition goes much deeper.
Transition, on the other hand, is the process of letting go of the way things used to be and then taking hold of the new way they subsequently become.
William Bridges – The Way of Transition
He makes a profoundly difficult process sound so simple!
So, how do we let go of the old and take hold of the new way?
Joseph Campbell talks about the process as the Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell was the legend who codified all mythological journeys and talked about how all great stories follow the same path.
The journey is not about how situations change, but how we are transformed in the process. It has four main parts which I will talk about here.
Another great book on this topic is Dr. Alexander Shaia’s book, Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation. Shaia is a great interpreter of Campbell’s work and uncovers many connect to the four gospel accounts in the Bible.
1. Heeding the Call
The transition process is set in motion when change arrives on your doorstep. It may be something that you initiate, a desire you would like to move towards. Or it could be something unexpected, and unwelcome. Like a job layoff, an ending of a significant relationship, or a hardship with your child.
Whatever it is, it knocks us out of equilibrium. The stability we thought we had, crumbled.
“The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of society to a zone unknown.”
Joseph Campbell – The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Our natural inclination is to resist the call. We are attached to how things are and letting go of how things were is incredibly hard. What complicates things further is that present hardships remind us of previous hardships we have been through.
A harsh critique from your boss, as hard as it is to hear in the present, activates all the times in our past when we have been criticized or felt like we didn’t measure up.
This first stage is likened to a threshold we walk through into uncertainty.
In the ancient Jewish transformation model, this stage is represented by The Coming out of Egypt. The Israelites were in slavery, but God brought them out. He parted the Red Sea, and they walked through on dry land!
In the New Testament, John the Baptist is the herald who initiated the journey by introducing us to Christ.
This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
Mathew 3:3
The journey of transformation we make with Christ begins when He calls us to follow him, and following Him becomes our desire.
Surrendering to the call plunges us into chaos and involves a great cost in suffering.
2. Moving Through Great Obstacles
Once we cross over, we come across more challenges that will knock us around. This is where we feel disoriented as we long for once was but realize we can never have it back.
In the Jewish transformation model, this stage is typified in by the wandering in the desert.
After the Israelites were freed from slavery and delivered at the Red Sea, they spent a long period wandering in the desert. They wished they could go back to working hard labor and getting free food.
“There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Exodus 16:3
We can’t forget that even Jesus was brought into the desert for 40 days to be tested.
The second stage is not only disorienting, as in where am I? it makes us feel like we don’t recognize ourselves anymore. A part of ourselves that we identified with is no longer part of our lives. We are left wondering who am I?
During this stage, we wrestle and struggle and try to keep our heads above water. The chaos of it all makes us question where God is in all of this and why he would let it happen.
Even the disciples, with Jesus in their midst, experienced this reality. Mark 4:35-41 tells the about crossing the Sea of Galilee when a huge storm comes up. Fearing their lives, they go to Jesus, who is asleep at the bottom of the boat. Jesus calms the wind at the waves. What is interesting about this story is that they were more scared after he calmed the storm than before it.
We go through these trials to experience His presence with us in the storm and come to know that we can rest patiently. Even though we endure hardship, we come to trust that God is the one who can revive us again.
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
Psalm 71:20
3. Receiving the Boon
There comes the point where we notice a shift, and we noticed signs of new life. This could be new insight or creativity or joy, and it surprises us. Day breaks, and it is in sharp contrast to the dark night we have endured.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5
In the Jewish transformation model, this stage is represented by when the Israelites were coming into the Promised Land. They were concerned and apprehensive of the dangers in front of them, but they trusted that God would bring them victory.
At this stage, it can feel like a revelation, yet it can also be difficult to accept.
In her book Daring Greatly, Brene Brown talks about her research into vulnerability. She found that actively practicing gratitude was the only way to receive joy. We hesitate to acknowledge and accept joyful moments, as we are afraid it may be taken away.
The most terrifying and difficult emotion we experience as humans is joy.
Brene Brown – Daring Greatly
The turn experienced at this stage is voiced in each one of the Psalms of Lament (Psalm 6, 13, 22, 42-43, 77). In these prayers, the Psalmist complains to God but then shifts into declarations of trust and praise. These moments can feel like a jolt as it is hard to praise God amid the heartache you have endured.
My Spiritual Director gave me a helpful illustration of fully holding the hard and difficult in on hand and fully holding the good in the other and being grateful for it all.
This shift can feel monumental, yet that is barely visible to the outside world. That is the road we walk in the final stage.
4. Return to Community
The path of the fourth stage is to integrate the insights gained into our real lives. This stage also comes with the responsibility of serving to help others find what you have found.
Now that you see things differently, how can you help others to see it?
At first, this is a hard adjustment. We all know the culture shock that comes from returning from a missions trip, retreat or vacation.
In the Jewish transformation model, this is represented by making the Promised Land an everyday reality. It is in the Promised Land that the community formed, each one serving the needs of one another.
We must learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some reason, I can never be what I ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.
Martin Luther King, Jr
Take some time now and reflect:
If you could change, would you?
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Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23
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