Moving past the clutter

Last weekend I was in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first module of iPEC’s Coaching Certification training.  An awesome weekend where I experienced a sense that what I was doing, learning, experiencing, was on track with my gifts, talents and the purpose God has for my life.  I came home on a high that lasted all week – gotta love that!

As I always do, I think a lot about life, even in the midst of my training.  Didn’t hurt that because we practiced coaching throughout the course, I felt like I was in therapy all weekend – I thought my brain would explode.  On Sunday morning, I left my hotel early for a walk along the Bay Bridge Trail which I’d discovered on Saturday, it’s my favorite way to start the day!  I love new adventures and I think it’s super cool to walk over the Bay.  I’ve done it on the Golden Gate Bridge, so the Bay Bridge was calling me.

I had about an hour and a half to walk so I could get back and ready in time for class.  No sweat (well, there was sweating), 6 miles-ish and that would certainly get me at least halfway across the bridge from where I started. One of the things I was excited about was walking on the new span of bridge that opened a couple years ago.  Off I went and after making my way through the maze under the freeway I was on the bridge.  If you don’t live around here, you may not know that after they opened the bridge, the next project was to take down the old bridge.  It’s a steel, ugly thing that now is cluttered with equipment used in deconstructing it.

So there I was, on the bridge, walking, walking, walking.  Seriously, when was I going to move past the old bridge and have an unobstructed view from the new span?  Cut to the chase, I didn’t. I ran out of time and had to turn back.

And that was ok.  But here’s what ran through my head.  My life is on a new the bridge, so to speak.  I finally feel like I’m on a path to live out my passion, my desire to help other people, to help them move their lives closer to where they want it to be.  Making choices instead of letting life just happen to me. But as I walk on that new path, the bright and shiny path, I’m not free from the clutter of my life thus far.  Granted, I’m making progress, a lot of it, but it’s still there.  Occurred to me that it’s like the Bay Bridge.  The new span is beautiful and you can walk on it, enjoy it, experience it, but at the same time, you have to deal with the deconstruction of the old span.  They’re making progress on it, just like I’m making progress in my own life, but it’s not gone yet, even in the midst of finding my purpose.

I’m going to get there, I know I am, but it can’t be rushed, it’s on its own time schedule, God’s time schedule.  Trying to move it any faster will just frustrate me, I don’t have control of the timing.  But unlike my walk on the bridge, I won’t turn around.  I’ve made a choice to move forward, and my clutter will be there for a while, truth is, even once I clear out the old stuff, more will appear.  That’s part of the deal and it’s ok.

I’d enourage anyone moving through change, and truthfully, isn’t that all of us in one way or another, to think about the bridge.  To not lose sight of the fact that you’re on the new span – celebrate the fact that you’re on the new span.  The old is still there, but you’re making progress.  It’s one step at a time, enjoy the walk.