The In-Between is Still a Place to Evolve

There are seasons in life when the shift is obvious. Something ends, something new begins, and even if we don't know exactly what the new season will bring, we know that life has changed.

But then there are the spaces in between.

Those seasons can be harder to define because nothing may be obviously wrong or even dramatically different. Life may actually be pretty established. Yet somewhere beneath everything that is familiar, you begin to recognize that something in you is changing.

I think we sometimes mistake that feeling for discontentment. We assume that if life is good, we shouldn't want anything to be different. But wanting to grow doesn't necessarily mean that you're unhappy with where you are. Sometimes you've simply evolved enough to recognize that the version of you that entered this season isn't necessarily the version of you who will leave it.

That's one of the things I've come to appreciate about the in-between. It gives us room to pay attention.

There are things that mattered greatly to me in earlier seasons that don't carry the same weight anymore. There are also things I understand about myself now that I couldn't have understood then because I hadn't lived enough life to know them. Time has a way of giving us perspective, but we have to be willing to acknowledge when that perspective is changing us.

The same is true of our relationship with God. As we continue walking with Him, our faith should mature. The way we understand Him, ourselves, and even our purpose can deepen over time. That doesn't mean everything we believed or pursued before was wrong. It may simply mean God has continued to develop us.

That's why I don't think we should be so quick to rush through seasons that don't have a clear definition.

The in-between can give you an opportunity to consider where you've been without feeling obligated to remain there. It can help you recognize what still fits and what you've outgrown. And sometimes it creates enough quiet for you to notice something that may have been there all along but didn't have room to emerge before.

You don't have to have the next chapter completely figured out to recognize that you're no longer standing where you once stood.

Maybe that's part of what this season is for.

Not to have all the answers, but to give yourself room to discover what’s changing, what still matters, and what God may be developing in you.

The in-between is still a place to evolve.