Doorposts, Gates, And Facing Transition

Today I looked through old notes on my phone, looking for one thing and finding another. A note from two years ago–my thoughts about transitions in life. I must have meant to blog my thoughts, but as it often happens in the craziness of life, way led on to way and it was forgotten. 

Today, that little note struck my heart chords with a loud thrum. Probably because I’m staring down some pretty big transitions on this day, two years later. Coincidence? Maybe. If I believed in those. 

Transitions. Some you see coming. Others leave you blindsided.

The ones in front of me now leave me reeling in one sense. And yet, so settled in another. Settled because even though I have no idea how facing the mountains in front of me will logistically play out, I know I don’t face it alone.

Today I needed a reminder of the way God spoke to my heart two years ago. And because I felt at the time they were written, that they were meant to be shared, maybe someone else out there needs these words too.

Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 

And you shall write them [the commandments given to the people through Moses] upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Doorposts and gates are places of coming and going. Of passing from one place to another. They mark transitions. And that’s where God asked his commandments to be written.

Why did God think this was so important?

In transitions we tend to get caught up in the details. The “how” of how everything will work out. And we tend to forget the WHO that we are doing it with.

So, let’s apply this to transitions in life. Simple ones like walking out of the door of your house, all the way to the big ones. The big moves. The ones that turn life on its head. 

In all of our coming and going, let us follow God’s command to the Israelites. Let us pause and remember who God is and how He relates to us. After all, isn’t that what those commandments, at their heart, are all about?

For some, going out into the world is the battlefield where the enemy attempts to distract. For others, maybe walking back into the door at night is the battlefield they face.

Either way, let us mark our going out by taking a moment to pause and remember what God has called us to as we go out into the world.

Let us mark our coming in by pausing a moment to remember who God is and what he has done for us so that we walk through the door our home with a fresh perspective. So that we don’t dump the baggage of the day onto those we love and care for.

In all our transitions, from big to small, let’s mark them by acknowledging who God is and how He relates to humanity so that we don’t miss His mission.