The Summer Of In-Between

It is the Summer Of In-Between.

Katelyn is in-between high school and college.

Nate and Rachel are in-between a no-kid home and the arrival of their first baby in August.

Aleah's furniture is in-between her apartment and our house.

Aleah's furniture has lived a year of in-between.

It left home for an apartment on a sweat-dripping day last August.

For several weeks, Aleah's room stood completely empty and I began making plans for an office. For years Kevin and I have squashed a desk into the corner of our bedroom. I have boxes and files stored in various nooks and crannies throughout the house. Books are piled wherever there is an inch of empty space. I have wanted (and needed) an office for years.

But then a few items came back from Aleah's apartment. We put in an air mattress for weekends when she was home. We added a small table and a lamp. College textbooks littered the floor. She lived between the two places for the entire school year.

And yesterday, an apartment full of things came back to her bedroom for the summer - stacks of boxes, overflowing clothesbaskets and armloads of stuff. When I went to bed she still couldn't get her door closed.

Her furniture is back, but Aleah is not. She is spending the summer in Mozambique, Africa, but everything will be waiting for her when she returns at the end of summer and moves back to an apartment.

Like I said, the Summer of In-Between.

One thing that has brought me a sense of freedom, of breathing room for my soul, is to realize that life is all about living in the in-between.

Boxes everywhere.

Stuff crammed in corners.

Never quite arriving, always changing.

Life is about transition. About living in the in-between.

It's making adjustments so even though I don't have an office, the bills still get paid and I still manage to do some writing.

Because amidst the boxes and the stuff and the furniture overflowing into the hallway, there is grace. Grace in the midst of imperfection. Grace in the change. Grace in the transition. Grace because Jesus knows better than anyone that this earth is not our final destination.

This life is our place of in-between.