The Season of In-between

Oct 17, 2016

Life Seasons Nostalgia Time
table with mugs and four chairs on a rainy day

It is gloomy outside my window on this rainy afternoon. I open the blinds a little bit more to let the gray light in. Everything in the parking lot outside is soaked and dewy. What I’ve always loved about the rain is its cleansing effect — how it removes the accumulating dust and grime of the summer months. And then there’s the calm. I love how the rain slows life down and quiets the streets. The sun, too, needs to rest.

We don’t know how thirsty our souls are until the rains come. Forced to stay indoors for longer than we’d like, we meet ourselves. We do things we may not have done if the sun were out — we bake cookies, we journal, we call an old friend, we pull out those old photo albums and journey down memory lane. Most of all, we long.

I don’t know what it is about a rainy day that makes me nostalgic, longing for the good old carefree days of childhood. Of a simpler life. It’s as if the rain clears up the veils and shows everything for what it truly is, cleared of any facades. Everything post-rain glistens, reflecting its inner light that was there all along.

The sound of raindrops beckons for a deliberate lethargy, a stillness that invites us to slow down. Rainfall has a way to deepen conversations. It reminds us what we need to be paying attention to.

Autumn has always been a time of reflection for me. The falling leaves make me ponder what it is I need to let go of, what is no longer working. Nature has an extraordinary way of teaching us about the seasons of life.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1

What season are you in right now?

I think the most trying season of all is the season of in-between. When you are in-between jobs, in-between relationships, in-between losing yourself and not yet having found yourself again. When you are neither here nor there, neither starting off nor finishing the race. It is a time of waiting, anticipating, praying, not knowing. A time when you hibernate from the world, not wanting to be seen. You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and wonder which direction to go.

The season of in-between determines how much longer we hang on and what we’re made of. It will put all our patience and trust and faith to the test. Often I wonder if God made this season on purpose to teach us not just about ourselves, but about Him and His promises.

So much of our life is made up of in-between moments. They can be hard, taxing, and scary. It can feel like we are floating phantoms waiting to be reattached to our bodies. At least that’s how it feels to me.

If you find yourself in a season of in-between right now, take heart. Know that it will not last forever, of that I’m sure. Write down everything you would like to have happen, or not happen, once this season passes. And most of all, pay attention. Be attentive to any signs from God, the universe, your inner spirit, about the next right step you are to take. Because that is the only thing we can do in this season, or in life, for that matter — take the next right step. Only you can know what that looks like.

Wherever you are on this rainy day in your corner of the world, I pray you are well, my dear. And should your soul be parched, may the rains come and refresh it.