At the beginning of a new year, it is common to reflect on the year past and the one to come. Looking back on 2025 for me, it was a year of endings and beginnings, and this year will be no different.
The conflict of living in the joy and sorrow of beginnings and endings is woven into the nest of transition.
I made a decision this past summer that was a long time coming. While this was something I had been wrestling with for over a year, I woke up one morning at peace with a choice I knew was the next right thing. I left a community and a people that I had grown to love and cherish for something new. While many things led me to this point, just because something was chosen didn’t mean it was easy.
This picture captures a life I lived for 3 years, and now that life has come to an end.
Between the pages of this planner were not just meetings, schedules, appointments, and events. It was people and prayers, conversations and confidentiality, laughter and tears, creativity and ideas. It was where my world of Member Caring was collated and curated. A passion for helping people in their comings and goings and the life lived in between. Returning the keys to my office closed this chapter.
Endings, whether chosen, forced, or unplanned, are still hard.
No longer would I walk to school with my American guy, or see him every day on campus. I would not be in the staff photos or receive the swag, which had become a milestone and memory for each year I’d served here. I’d miss my little office and the daily conversations, lunches, prayers, and connections.
The ending of the old for something new had begun. And realising that was okay to live with the pain of a long, well-wrestled process of closing a door on this chapter of member caring for my community, and the excitement of working toward a life of caring globally for cross-cultural workers in transition through coaching and debriefing resources.
The onset of the journey to bring The Sojourners Nest dream into a reality was just beginning!
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