I used to like the game of limbo. In junior high gym class (long before I knew what back pain was) I enjoyed the challenge of bending backward just enough to get my whole body under the bar without touching it.

I enjoyed the music and the cheers of the onlookers as slowly but surely I passed from one side to the other. I especially liked that one moment of staring up at the bar from my awkward bent position right before I stood up on the other side.

Recently, I’ve realized I don’t like limbo anymore. (And not just because I can’t bend when I was younger.) The game has become a metaphor for my life. Except I always feel like I am in that last moment of transition from one side of the bar to the other – awkwardly bent, staring up at the unknown, unable to fully see what lies on the other side.

It started in high school as I looked forward to the transition to college. Then it was the transition from college to “real” adulthood. Then I looked forward to married life. The pattern continued with job changes or moves; you name it. Now I’m back in school wondering what it will be like on the other side of my degree.

The transitions just keep coming. I’m starting to realize they always will!

Everything is transitory. We are always transitioning from one phase of life to another. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep playing limbo! Too much of our lives is spent looking forward to—or worrying about—the future. And as a result, we may be missing the here and now God has given us.

So I’m stepping out of the limbo line. I’m not going to take my next turn. What about you? ~ Written by Samantha Freds (from womenofgraceusa.wordpress.com)