Doing The Limbo

I hate limbo.  You know, that place where things could go either way but don’t seem to be moving, for a time, in either direction.

I looked up the actual definition of limbo.  It disturbed me.  It’s defined by the Catholic faith as a place where innocent souls go who have not been baptized or who died before Jesus’ death and resurrection. (My faith disagrees strongly.)

No wonder I don’t like limbo.  It’s a “stuck” place.  A neutral, neither good nor bad, place that you can’t seem to escape from.

Or take the limbo dance.  You shimmy yourself under a horizontal pole that makes its way closer and closer to the ground, but you are not allowed to touch either the pole or the ground.  Thus, the saying that goes with the dance, “how low can you go?”

Our family is at a place of potential change soon.  I can’t disclose details as a decision has not yet been made.  Some of those decisions are ours to make, but others are out of our hands.  It could be potentially life-changing.  Not in the dramatic, soul-changing way, but in the practical-every-day-living sort of way.

In the meantime, there is a sort of stand still.  Limbo.  Not going in either direction for a time.  Not knowing what is coming next.  That place in the middle where you can’t move until you know which way to go.

Limbo requires patience.  Not my strong suit.  It requires resting quietly for a time.  Again, not my forte.  It asks me to trust God’s plan and timing and answer.  Something that I am learning a little more every day.  It allows me to lean into my key word of 2013 – Savor.  To enjoy even the angst of not knowing as I realize that there WILL be an answer in the end.  There will be a direction to follow.  There will be a light at the end of this short tunnel.

So I will do the limbo. After all, there are lessons learned “between here and there”.  I will be still in not knowing the future but in knowing the One who holds it.  I will trust His hand and His timing.  And when the answers become clear, I will thank Jesus for walking through the process with me.

And suddenly limbo isn’t quite as frustrating as it once was…

Matthew 28:20 – And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

Matthew 6:33 – Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

James 1:5 – If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.