In Between Days

I was listening to the Cure the other day, and my brain was sparked by hearing their song "In Between Days." I feel like I am always between things, coming and going, never ceasing or resting. Right now I am between school quarters, gearing myself up to start into another quarter within the next 10 days. Until the other day, I was between Christmas and New Year’s, and we have traveled many miles in the past 5 days on our way to visit family.

When I find myself “in between” it seems that I always want to be here or there. I find it hard to exist in the in between. I feel unsettled and unresolved, waiting to move backward or forward. At the same time, this tension of the “in between” is something that I feel like I am being forced to embrace. The reality of life is that we are always somewhere in between. We find ourselves to be students and teachers, givers and receivers, children and parents, beginners and experts.

Considering that those transitional and in between states are where we spend most of our lives, should we not embrace them? Instead of quickly wanting to rush to the next thing, should we really stop and embrace the process? After all, growth happens through process, not through an instantaneous happening.

I am reminded in the midst of these “in between” days that I am between worlds as well. I long for my eternal home and yet need to find solace where I am. I am an exile, one who is without a home and I need to heed the words of Jeremiah to the exiles from Israel to “seek the peace and prosperity” of the place where I am planted at this moment.

Worrying over my “in between” state will not get me out of it any faster. Ignoring what is happening around me will do more damage than good. So, I find myself having to embrace the “in between.” I need to keep my eyes fixed on things in front of me and yet live in the moment, realizing that yesterday was the day before’s tomorrow, and today was yesterday’s tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, it will be today, and the days will continue to pass. Do I lament the passing of those days or do I embrace them as they come, regardless of whether I feel “in between” or not.

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” If we persist, we will reap a harvest for what we are doing. If we do not give up, we will see the rewards of our labor.

Rather than going into the New Year making resolutions that I will never keep, I would much rather move into each new day with the expectation that I will make the most of it, whether I’m “in between” or not. May you find rest and solace in today and seek out the peace and prosperity of wherever you are. May you realize that the work that God has begun in you has made a little bit more progress today and that it will continue to do so. May you seek to live your “in between days” without dwelling in the past or getting lost in the future.