Constancy in the midst of change

I like to come up with one main thing that a blog post is about, it makes for easier reading (and writing). But this week I've been a bit stuck. And it's a symptom of transition. We are, day by day, growing less settled and more drawn into the depths of transition. Yes, it's what I wrote about last week and many times in the past. Missionary life comes with constant change. If it isn't us changing it's someone else. But in this case it's us.

This week we've become more embroiled in practical decisions about both sides of the equation:

Australia

• Meeting up with people "before we go"
• Finalising payments like rent
• Doing things that need to be done before we go, like medical appointments, final things to help our sons get settled
• Talking over logistical things like moving house and selling our car
• Starting to sort through boxes—I threw out many years worth of X-rays this week and found a photo of myself as an infant in the arms of my maternal grandparents.

Japan

This is the largest space in the apartment.
By Australian standards it's tiny, 
especially the kitchen, bathroom,
and laundry. But it's a lovely, bright
apartment and we'll enjoy the challenge
of figuring out how to furnish it.
Watch this space in August!

• We had the first look at photos of our new apartment and started to think more concretely about furniture
• Getting a couple of quotes for moving our stuff into our new apartment
• Finalising details on David's contract with the school
• Renting a car space across the road from our apartment (the apartment does not come with its own space) and thinking about what car we might like to buy
• Thinking about the logistics of that first week in Japan

And less immediately concrete details—I had a meeting with key members of my magazine editing team to talk about the future structure of the team and how I'd best contribute to that.

Along with all of that goes emotions, of course. But probably I'm feeling more excited and not too tremulous. This is the first time we've done this as a couple without any children, and it is significantly simpler (no schooling to consider, just for starters). We've also got the advantage of knowing that we've lived in Japan pretty successfully for many years now, so there's a lot that isn't scary at all.

Emotions are mixed because parts of our heart live on both sides of the ocean now. There are people in both places who we love. There are things about each place that we love.

But, I've written about this before. If you've read along for a few years, you've heard it before!

Change is constant in all of our lives. But as cross-cultural workers we've learned to expect a more frequent and larger changes. Therefore, this article resonated with me: https://velvetashes.com/the-constant-of-change/

The author reflects:

If I have learned anything in my life, it’s to embrace the highs and lows, clinging to the promise that God is with me, will never leave me, and will always provide for me in unexpected and incredible ways.

And she quotes one of my favourite hymns, which is very relevant at this time:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

I'm clinging to the one who never changes (God), along with experiencing the comfort that comes with remembering that he has provided all that I've needed and trusting that that also will never change. That is very soothing in the midst of the noise that echoes around in my head at transition times.

But I might not be a soothing person to talk to. My head is full of messy noise that can mean it's hard to concentrate sometimes. If you catch me in the wild, asking "How are you feeling?" might meet with any number of answers!