Intentional Life Transition
Transition is a natural part of the life cycle. We begin the process of changing, growing and transitioning from one life stage, position, sphere of influence, circle of friendships and personal goals to another from the time of our birth.
Some life transitions have brought joy and others pain but they all have contributed to the formation of the person we are today. We can control some of the transitions of life and some are just going to come into our lives uninvited, unannounced and are uncontrollable.
Unfortunately, the uninvited ones usually capture most of our attention and time. These are also the ones that tend to drain our physical, emotional and spiritual strength.
I want to suggest that we put our energy into “Intentional Transitions,” to make a choice as to the priorities of our life and how we will live it. Here are four concepts that will intentionally shape our lives, making them more meaningful and productive while the natural transitions are taking place.
- Spiritual Growth: I love the example of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:5-9 where we find him at the end of his life still growing in his faith. From the world’s perspective, he had gone through many positive and negative transitions but here we see him living life intentionally.We need to build into our daily lives some intentional practices for spiritual growth.
- Friendships: In 2 Peter 1:13 and 3:1, Peter speaks of stirring up his friends by reminding them of what is important. Living life intentionally includes friendships like this.We need good friends who are godly and willing to “stir us up” about our faith walk.
- Personal Witnessing: Romans 1:16, reminds us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Our founding Director Jack Wyrtzen often said, “It is the responsibility of every generation to reach their generation with the Gospel of Christ.”We need to be doing what we can to intentionally share the good news of the Gospel.
- Personal Goals: I am challenged by the spirit of Caleb in Joshua14:11-12. Here he is in his eighties and he is explaining to Joshua his future plans and how he is ready to fight. Oh – and by the way he still wants that mountain! . . . Now that is intentional living!We need to have a dream, to say no to the world’s “treadmill existence” approach to life. We need to live intentional lives setting our own personal goals.
