Waiting, transition, preparation – these are all ideas that have been coming up a lot for me lately. It makes perfect sense that these things would be on my mind right now. I just finished my last week of work and now have five months to prepare for my World Race departure in January. I’m about to enter a kind of “in-between” phase, where I’m done with one thing (the full-time job I’ve held for the last five years) and looking forward to the next thing (11 countries in 11 months).
It’s tempting for me to look at the next five months as some kind of free period where I can just relax. My job responsibilities have come to a close for now, and I’ve already committed to doing this big, crazy thing starting in January, so I deserve to basically take a five-month nap in the meantime, right? That could partially be lack of sleep talking (I moved out of my apartment this week in addition to working my full-time job plus having outside commitments during every evening of the week. The highlight of the week was packing and cleaning my apartment by headlamp since my roommate and I accidentally shut off our utilities a day early). I don’t literally want to sleep for 5 months, but taking a long break sounds very appealing.
What I’m learning, though, is that there’s no such thing as an “in-between” phase. Where you are right now is where you’re called to be. I may be leaving for a mission trip in five months, but I’m also on mission now. It’s easy to set up these ideas in our minds about The Next Big Thing – the next stage in life, the dream we’re pursuing, the vision we’re called to. We just know we’ll have finally made it once we get there: once we graduate from school, move out of Mom & Dad’s house, get that next degree, get a “real” job with benefits, finally learn the piano, get married, have kids…whatever it is, we’ll really be living our calling, living in God’s fullness once we get to that thing.
God’s not terribly interested in The Next Big Thing, though. He’s interested in you (Psalm 139), interested in your heart (Jeremiah 17:10), and he’s interested in NOW. In fact, now is all you have. Now is when you can choose to love God, to obey him and serve him faithfully, to say yes to the little things he asks of you each day. Now is also when you can choose to love and serve yourself above all. You can choose to go about your day doing what you want regardless of the Holy Spirit’s leading.
I’m guilty of thinking, for instance, that I can’t possibly be expected to devote my full energy to typing data into a spreadsheet all day at work, because I’m meant for bigger and better things. Thank God that he does have better things for me than spreadsheets, but he also expects me to be faithful with even the small and boring things. Persevering in obedience, even when things are hard or boring or seem insignificant, is what builds your character and makes The Next Big Thing possible (Romans 5:3-5). To put it a different way, why should you be trusted with something big and gloriously exciting if you haven’t proven trustworthy with the small things (Matthew 25:14-30)?
I’m looking forward to leaving in January, for sure, but I can’t discount the time and place I’m in right now. I’m about to trade our nation’s capital for the Peanut Capital of the World (major tourist attractions: the Great Dismal Swamp and the annual Peanut Fest) and move back in with my parents at the age of 28. My mom recently referred to this as a “lifestyle downgrade,” and it’s admittedly hard not to see her point. I’m excited, though, for what God has for me in the next few months, and I’m believing him for big things.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to look around you and see who you can love and how you can serve right now, right where you are.
