Last week I took the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and I won’t find out my score for another week. This score is important because it could determine scholarship options and therefore could determine whether or not I pursue a law degree at all.
Needless to say, this could be an excruciating waiting period. It could be an anxiety-filled time. And in a way, it is.
But more than that, these two weeks are a space for me to practice living in the “space between.”
Right now, it’s the space between taking a test and knowing the score.
Sometimes it’s the space between leaving a job and finding another one.
Sometimes it’s the space between fertility treatments and the pregnancy test.
It’s the holding pattern where we so often find ourselves in life.
It’s all around us. Our lives are filled with “in between” times—and they can be some of the most uncomfortable moments of our lives.
In these moments, we’re acutely aware of the uncertainty of the future. The unknown blares loudly. The what ifs stack up.
It’s in these moments that we are reminded of our lack of control. We cannot decide future events, nor can we determine our future emotions.
It’s also in these moments that we have an opportunity to let God mold and shape us. We can allow our brains to follow the natural, human neuron pathways of anxiety and fear, or we can choose to set our eyes on Jesus.
We can focus on our weaknesses, or we can orient ourselves toward the One who is greater than all our strengths and weaknesses. We can allow Him to transform us by renewing our minds—by rerouting our broken thought patterns to neuron pathways that reinforce our identity in Christ.
We are in Christ.
When this is the focus, all else fades away. And the space between—the space that would normally be filled with anxiety and fear—becomes a space to be filled with Jesus.
It becomes a practicing ground to keep turning our faces toward Him.
When I get the LSAT scores, I’ll enter another space between—the space between applying and awaiting an acceptance or rejection. And the space waiting for news of a scholarship.
On this side of heaven, we will always be in a space between in some way. It’s hard and nerve-wracking and beautiful and exciting. Because we will always be in a space where we can look more like Jesus and let Him redirect us to train our eyes not on His creation, but on Him.