Today belongs to Tomorrow, Living Life in the Transitions

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17 (NIV)

Lucile Randon, also known as Sister Andre, passed away recently in Toulon, France. Chances are you may not have known about her since she didn’t run in the circle of the rich, powerful, or famous. What made her famous was her age. This humble nun died at the age of 118, having been the world’s oldest known person for a brief moment. Sister Andre was born during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, a year after the first baseball World Series game and four years before Henry Ford introduced the Model T.  Sister Andre lived through two major global wars, countless other smaller wars, and thousands of world leaders. She finally retired at 108 but continued to help others in the nursing home where she lived.

Maltbie Babcock died in 1901 three years before Sister Andre was born. Babcock was an American pastor but unlike sister Andre, he died at 42. Yet in his short life, he understood that “Part of today belongs to tomorrow, as the seed belongs to the shoot, as the foundation belongs to the building. So today owes its best to tomorrow, for not to do right today may ruin tomorrow. But the reverse is not true. Tomorrow cannot ruin today. Time’s wheel does not run backward. Banish, then, fore-boding and anxious forecast, and fill to today with faithful work, with kindness and courage and hope; and so you will keep tomorrow from being a marplot, and make it a good, honest today when it comes.” (excerpt from Babcock’s book, Thoughts for Every-Day Living. Adjusted some word spellings to accommodate 21^st century Grammarly)

William James, the father of modern psychology, coined the term over 150 years ago that “life is in the transitions.” Bruce Feiler took the term for his book, “Life is in the transitions—Mastering Change at Any Age” writing that “most lives simply do not follow the tidy templates of linearity. They follow a different shape entirely.” Feiler uses the term “disruptors” to describe life events that interrupt the everyday flow of one’s life. Disruptors can be negative such as losing your job, or the death of a loved one but can also be considered positive such as starting a new career or moving into a different house. “Disruptors are simply deviations from daily life.”

David Parsons came from a wealthy, influential family, achieved fame as an opera singer, and even married Miss America. Disruptors came to his picture-perfect life causing the wheels to come off. A botched vocal cord surgery ended his stage career, his brother died of AIDS and his dark secret of being an alcoholic since age 11 came to light. Yet another disruptor came when he woke up from a drinking binge, got on his knees, and prayed, “God, please help me not to drink today. If I make it, I’ll thank you tonight and I’ll ask you again tomorrow morning. I haven’t had a drink since that day.”

Now serving as a pastor in New York when asked about the shape of his life, he said, “the cross.” “Every pastor is a theologian of the cross,” he said, “But in my case, I believe in the Jesus story. I know that freaks people out, especially in New York. But I lived a very dissipated life, and now I live a life of service. There was a very specific point in time when God came down and touched my life. That’s the crossroads that led me to where I am today.”

We may or may not live to be 118 but however long we live, we will live life in the transitions. Whether it is age transitions, work transitions, family transitions, societal transitions, death transitions or you “name it” transitions.

As we live in transition, all of us will experience “disruptors” or “lifequakes.” Feiler estimates that a person can expect to experience as an adult, around three dozen, that’s an average of one every 12 to 18 months. What we do with them will be the story we make. Though living life is in the transitions, the good news is that God wants to be with you in the transitions!

God has a pretty good understanding of how to help since from the beginning “all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” –Psalm 139:16b

Jesus encouraged us that even in the transitions, God had the situation under control and could say, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” –Matt 6:34

Psalm 90 captures a prayer of Moses as he prayed, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away…Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (10,12 NIV)

Babcock left us “part of today that belongs to tomorrow” in his hymn “This is My Father’s World” which has been sung for generations. “This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world, The battle is not done; Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and heaven be one.” (stanza three, Baptist Hymnal)

Life in the transitions is not always easy, and, seldom what we thought it would be, but what a difference there is when we let God walk with us in the transition! “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” –Matthew 28:20b

God is great!