Dear Corinne,
It was good to hear your views on ‘be’ and to know that you are scheduling in time just to ‘be’ in the midst of your busyness!
I do not know what springs to your mind when you read or hear the word Exit? But for me, it brings back memories of a little girl who was attending a school overseas, where the language spoken was not her own. One day some of the older girls were upsetting her, in the playground, and in her desperation to make them leave her alone, she lashed out at them. When her parents discussed the incident with her at home, they asked her why she had not just told the girls, to go away. She replied that the only English word she could think of was exit and she knew that was not the right word for the situation!
The dictionary informs us that exit means, way out or departure and as a verb it means to go away or out; to depart or to leave. While we need to belong, there are times when we need to move on or away from some circles, for a variety of reasons. So we need to discern when and how to exit.
Some exits occur naturally; when we are young, our age means we have outgrown the group and are ready to move on to the one for our next age group! When we are older, we may change our job or move location which makes belonging to our existing circles less feasible and necessitates finding new ones.
In my experience there is an ebb and flow with the seasons and stages of life. Some provide us with a deep sense of belonging and connectedness, others are more transitory in their duration and impact. As change is part of the passage of time, it is entirely appropriate to move between circles. However we need to have connection and a sense of belonging and therefore need to be careful that we do not, for whatever reason, allow ourselves to become too solitary or isolated.
There comes to all of us, the final exit and you are, no doubt, familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Despite this certainty, death seems to be a far less discussed subject than taxes, about which most people have an opinion!
Of course none of us know, the day/time of our final exit and it is something that most of us pay scant attention to. However, when I was first diagnosed with heart disease, I found myself thinking about it, because while we have two legs and two arms, we only have one heart and there is no Plan B if it ceases to beat!
As I was pondering, I read about a book called LAST ORDERS BY PATRICIA C.BYRON. I purchased a copy and I have to confess that I have facetiously written “I’ll have a G and T” under the title on the inside page! Joking aside it is a really helpful book.
It is written in workbook style, so you can fill in all the relevant information, that those who are dealing with your affairs, after your final exit will need to know. This may sound morbid to you, but completing the book actually brought me a great sense of peace and freedom. It allowed me to move on into new opportunities knowing that I had done all I could to leave my affairs in order. Preparing for death freed me to live life!
In the Gospels we read of Jesus preparing his disciples for his death and resurrection and we see accounts of him appearing to them afterwards. You may like to enter into his final exit by listening to COMMISSIONING.
Take care on your travels!
with love,