Hellos and Goodbyes: learning to live fully in both and in the in-between

Six months into this year, I find myself thinking about and writing about personal lessons I’m learning this year as I more intentionally seek Him.

My one word for 2026 is SEEK, and I am well aware that looks different in different seasons of life. Speaking of seasons, I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing and thinking about that as well.

Both letting go of the old and embracing the new.
Both learning from the past and preparing for the future.
Both honoring my heritage and longing to leave a legacy.

It’s no mystery that I am a both/and girl. I’ve talked about that quite a bit lately, too, and I think it’s because I truly long to live life to the fullest.

So, as I’ve sought Him more intentionally in my current season and every hello and goodbye it has given me, a couple of secular songs have recently spoken a spiritual message to both my sinful and sanctified heart.

Longing to both face reality and embrace the lessons God has for me, this is what those two songs reminded me:

The first song is Closing Time by Semisonic.
Released in 1998, which is ironically the year I closed the door on my childhood by graduating from college and getting married, this song’s message is a double entendre — both a song about a bar closing and a metaphor for becoming an adult.

Dan Wilson, the lead singer and guitarist of the band Semisonic, wrote this song in anticipation of his wife giving birth to their first child. Many of the lines in the song are not just about the last call at a bar, but about the time drawing close for this child to leave the womb and enter the world.

The second song is Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles.

As this song waffles back and forth between greetings and farewells, the secular meaning as intended by its author, Paul McCartney, is all about duality and opposites. The tension between two opposing perspectives, and how we all must figure out our place and it all.

These songs, in combination with other things God is using to get my attention these days, remind me that growth welcomes change, new beginnings often come after something has ended, and hellos lead to goodbyes. The circle of life and the purpose of the gospel is so evident to me in the in between of all these things. Death brings life, and when we choose to continually seek the One who created life and conquered death, we will always be in good company, because He will be right next to us on the journey from one season to the next, one opening to another closing, one hello to another goodbye.

Endings are hard, but when we keep the perspective that something must end before a new thing can begin, it makes endings more manageable, more purposeful, and less finite. I can't help but think of this verse from revelation that brings such comfort and knowing the very one who is both the beginning and the end…

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13, ESV)

My son, Caleb, and I just had a conversation about this very thing. He’s in the midst of a new transition. A new job, a new home, a new state, and a new community. For someone who thrives in familiarity, routine, and consistency, this transition is a stretch for him. Granted, he is also full of adventure, and he loves new challenges, meeting new people, and establishing new rhythms. But living in the tension of the two has always been hard for Caleb. Saying goodbye to close friends, releasing a job he has put so much time and energy into, and moving to a totally new state is stretching him.

I remember when Caleb was younger and we were on a family vacation. Not even halfway through the vacation, he was already sad that in just a few days it all would be ending. I remember encouraging Caleb then as I encouraged him the other day on the phone in regard to this new transition…

“Don't be sad it is ending, be glad it happened.”

I think we all should view life that way. Each season is beautiful, just like the physical seasons. Each have unique characteristics, but if we only experienced one of the four seasons, we would never understand and appreciate the true beauty of each season. In order to experience the fullness of beauty of one, we must embrace them all, and in order to do that, one must end so another can begin.

So, I think I'll follow the advice I just gave Caleb, and maybe you are being prompted to follow that advice, too.

The best way to do that is to continually seek Him, no matter the season you're in. If you're walking with him daily, you're right where he wants you to be! And the good news is he's there with you to help you in each transition. He'll help you say the goodbyes and the hellos. He'll help you know when it's closing time and it's time to go. And most importantly, He will love you as you walk through every open door, walk away from every closed one, and just keep walking with Him, seeking His will for your life, every step of the way.

Speaking of Caleb, I’d like to end this post with a poem he wrote as he reflected on a season of his own life that’s ending and looking forward to a new one on the horizon…

Hellos and Goodbyes
By Caleb Deller

There are two different parts of a journey
We call them hellos and goodbyes
One's where we do the most living
The other, we feel most alive

There are two different parts to our stories
Which we write to remember our time
One's where we do the most reading
The other, we might only cry

There are two different seasons of beauty
When the colors get brighter each day
One's full of new life and blossoms
The other is death on display

There are two different parts of a journey
We call them hellos and goodbyes
One's where we do the most living
The other, we feel most alive