Transitions: What's Next?

Summer/Fall 2024

Near the end of Act I of the Broadway play, “Hamilton,” comes a song titled, “What Comes Next?” It’s sung by King George III, who begrudgingly admits that the colonists won their independence from his rule, but also warns them not to come crawling back to him when they discover how hard it is to lead. The colonists may be free from British control, but what comes next? They have a lot of big decisions to make about how they want to be governed.  

Any transition, whether as large as a revolution or simply the normal change in seasons, entails questions about what comes next. What does this next season look like? What decisions need to be made? Which logistics are there to iron out? What dilemmas need addressing? Then, there are always additional issues that will pop up; how will you deal with those? The Americans elect George Washington as their first President; the theatrical King George is shocked that Washington would step down after being in charge and is perplexed by this idea of voluntarily giving up power. However, by all accounts, Washington wanted to model the transition between Presidents so that there was stability and to answer the “what happens next” questions.  

When God is in the midst of the transition, or behind the transition, we don’t always notice the divine presence on our own. God’s influence can cause us to ask a whole lot more questions about “what’s next,” because we feel less in control of the change and less certain about it. In the prophet Isaiah’s writings, God acts first and explains later:  

“This is what the Lord says— 
    he who made a way through the sea, 
    a path through the mighty waters... 
‘Forget the former things; 
    do not dwell on the past. 
See, I am doing a new thing! 
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 
I am making a way in the wilderness 
    and streams in the wasteland.’” 

Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

Part of what I love about this passage is that God doing a new thing springs up. It is a not a top-down movement. It’s grassroots. It wells up from within. It’s the direction of new life from a seed planted in the dirt. God doesn’t heavy-hand things, demanding from on high how things shall be. Instead, it’s subtler, making us wonder, like Jack Skellington in “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “What’s this?” And, “what’s next?”  

It’s saying, “Ok, God. You got me here. And I see this sprout springing up. And I honor this new nudge you have planted in my life. Now what?” It’s scary. It’s unknown. It’s tempting to give up and go back to what we know, back to what is safe. However, when we know God is in the new thing, when we see it springing up, then even as we’re discerning the concrete steps and figuring out what it looks like and logistical details, we may feel uneasy about the unknown yet we can also continue to trust that God is leading us on the way. In fact, God is making the way for it to happen and come together, even while we may feel uncomfortable in the disorientation.  

What comes next for me in this season of transition? I started a private practice for counseling. God opened a lot of doors for this one. In fact, almost every door I knocked on, i.e., people I contacted, were helpful and supportive. My website is http://gentlecurrentscounseling.com. If you’re interested, please check it out. To be clear, this blog is not going to be advertising for my counseling service. Please follow it on Instagram to learn more about it. It is, however, my current transition. I will still continue writing here. If you have any ideas for topics, I’m open to suggestions.  

What’s next for you? Leave me a note in the comments or send me a message.