by KAYLYN LANIER XIONG

I am writing this article while the summer heat is still in full swing, but when you read it, we will have stepped into fall. (Yes! Sweater weather, y’all! Who’s with me?)

We hear all the time about this season, “Autumn has such a wonderful way of showing us how beautiful it is to let things go.” And it is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t hard. Transitioning from one season to the next is not an easy thing. The place in life where you have been…so full and vibrant…was perfect for that season. But when the seasons suddenly change, it requires a transition to the next, and there’s mourning. That doesn’t dismiss or diminish the joy or even excitement for the next season, but you have a right to stop, even just for a few moments, and mourn the leaving of a season, and honor how wonderful it was.

My husband (boyfriend at the time) moved to Winston-Salem in September 2022. When we got married in January, I moved into his condo. It’s been our home for nearly 9 months—our first together as a married couple. Now we’re moving to a marvelous new home. We’re so grateful for God’s blessing! But suddenly leaving the place where we were dating, were engaged, and began our marriage…so many ‘firsts’…that’s no simple thing. 

Let me give some context. My husband and I have vastly different life experiences. He’s moved nearly 13 times in his life. I moved once as a child. I went back-and-forth to college and lived abroad for a semester in Israel, but those were not permanent moves. Where I live, I put down roots that don’t come up easily. But this move did just that—it pulled up freshly-established roots, and I felt it.

We went back to the condo the night after we moved just to clear out a few more things. Already, the hollowness and even the echo of our first home shook me. It felt cold, lacking the warmth it held for those precious months. For a minute I literally laid on the bare floor in our empty old living room. Oh, if those walls could talk! They would tell of the endless nights where we fell asleep on the couch. They would tell of our excitement when we called people on the night we got engaged. They would tell of a crazy Christmas Eve when I came over for breakfast and water pipes started bursting in some of the other homes around us…the fire department did not love our development that day…SORRY! The walls would recall hours of laughter and conversation as we have learned how to be married. 

Thankfully, my husband knows I am a feeler and gave me the moments he recognized I needed. He laid on the floor with me simply staring at the ceiling…remembering. Then, he slowly got us up and we danced through each room while recalling the Goodness of God. Finally, we put everything in the car and drove all the way back to our beautiful, warm new home. 

Transition is a beautiful thing AND it’s a hard thing. But if we stay in the old place… we can never get to the new place. It’s necessary. We are called to grow and expand. 

So, I don’t know where you are in life or what season you’re in right now, but savor it. Maybe let go of the previous season. Maybe dream about your next season. But know that it’s all necessary. Take a few moments to recognize the Goodness of God all around you…in all of it. It’s like the verse says… “I will see the Lord in the land of the living.” Look around, and you will!