In Transition

A western sun lingers. Shadows reach eastward, while another today nears tomorrow. There she sees a swing. Beneath her feet she feels the change of earth, as she moves from pavement to grass…

With empty fields and unheard voices, she is alone in this place. Choosing a swing, her legs begin to work. She falls forward and then backward, rising up each time. Like a pendulum. Her own weight her momentum, briefly defying gravity.

The warm breeze brushes across her skin and through her hair. As she rises towards the sky, she sees only quivering treetops and a clear blue. And as she falls back, she sees the grasses rush by below her feet.

Her thoughts stray and she thinks of something recently said to her. Though said innocently, the words haunt her: “I’ve just been in this transition for months now; I feel like I’ve been in a limbo, just waiting, and so unproductive; I’m ready for what’s next.”

“Transition.” Still swinging, the girl contemplates this word and she thinks, “How often it seems to be a word misused.” Transition means to change, but (herself included she perceives) it seems people misconstrue this word—transition—as a more dignified word for waiting.

But transition is active—a period of change, life happening. It does not mean a time of waiting, of idleness or delay. Life—our life—is not in limbo. There is no lull, or some hiatus or intermission. It is what it is. We are where we are. We are who we are. We live right now. To live is to change. From one transition to another. If we are waiting, then how are we living?

The girl swings. Back and forth, back and forth. Rising up, then falling down, and rising up again. As her legs pump to move the swing, and Earth’s gravity pulls her back, she realizes this swing is like a life. Her world, just as this swing, is set into motion because of her own strength and will to move it, the forces of Earth as controls, and most of all, God (she believes) as the Creator of all.

Life is like a pendulum—like this girl on a swing. We swing from high-to-low-to-high points. Always moving. Rising up, falling down, rising up, falling down. Both the Good and the Bad. When we swing high on one end, we see the wide-open blue, and we feel free and invincible. That’s good. Love those feelings and times. And when we swing back and high to the other end, we see the grasses and dusts. Perhaps this reminds us that we are earthbound and mortal. This is beautiful too. We are alive.

If we can swing from one end of the pendulum to the other, then we can live to the high points in life, get through the low points, and still end on a high point. Ultimately though, our pendulum will stop. There will be an empty, and still swing. Our life is not forever in this place. But while we are here, may we be conscious that Time is continuous and Life always changing, always present, and never waiting. It is here. We don’t have an intermission.

Don’t wait. Swing high. Do life.