Deaconess Community,

As the year bends toward its close, the world itself feels like it is exhaling from the exhaustion of running without a moment to catch one single breath. Across faith traditions, sacred seasons have come and completed: the Jewish New Year sounded months ago, Muslim communities celebrated the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Christians now stand in the quiet expectancy of the Advent of the Promised One. Together, these rhythms remind us of a shared invitation to realign our hearts and relationships in anticipation of what is to come.

I call this a RelationSHIFT, the holy reordering that happens when life, loss, and growth begin to reshape us from the inside out.

I’ve been living in such a season myself. Just weeks ago, my eldest brother completed his earthly journey, one day short of three years since my father’s final moments on earth. The timing made me have to gather myself in faith. Grief and loss have been tender, constant visitors. And with them came the awareness that relationships around me were shifting, too: some drifting, most deepening, and still others completing their purpose.

At the same time, I could feel another truth rising in me, a quiet transformation, a becoming. A new iteration of who I am in Christ and who I am called to be in the world that seems to coincide with these RelationSHIFTs.

Maybe you have been going through similar shifts. Perhaps you, too, have sensed transitions you can’t see but can feel, a subtle turning of the season in your own life. If so, I pray these reflections from Naomi’s story in the book of Ruth give language to what your spirit is already experiencing.

Lessons from Naomi for this Season of Change
Naomi teaches us that RelationSHIFTs often begin in places we never asked to be. Famine, loss, transition: all of it pushed her toward a new chapter. And the new chapter called her to a place of provision and abundance, just as it did when she set her face toward Bethlehem, “the House of Bread.”

• Anticipate a refreshing: When something in your life feels out of season, it may not be an ending. Consider that God may be signaling a new direction.

Naomi’s story also shows us that relationships bring clarity in times of change. Orpah, whose name means “back of the neck,” turned back. Ruth, whose name means “companion and friend,” moved forward with Naomi, remaining her constant and rock. Both choices revealed purpose. Both represent the character of people we encounter throughout life. Some connections are for a chapter. Some are for the journey.

• Trust: Release what is finished without bitterness, accusation, or aimless wondering “why,” or you will miss the blessing of who remains, sent as gifts into your bountifully beautiful life.

Naomi also faced the temptation of becoming bitter – a cautionary tale for us to resist the same temptation. She tried to rename herself “Mara.” I understand that impulse. Grief tries to convince us that the emptiness and the void are the whole story. But RelationSHIFTs are not the end of our identity or our story. They are often the pruning before the bloom.

• Believe: Choose love and hope, even in the face of enormous tests, in anticipation of the seasons of joy to come.

And Naomi encourages us to expect our Ruths, the companions who show up with loyalty, clarity, and audacious courage. The ones God sends you to and sends to you, meeting you on the road less traveled, exactly where purpose and divine assignment call your lives to intertwine.

• Connect: Stay open to the Ruth experiences – the connections that give strength – and in turn, be that anchoring presence for others.

A Blessing for the Season Ahead
If 2025 has stretched you, shaken you, or rearranged your relationships in ways you didn’t see coming, take heart. You’re not losing your footing. You’re being positioned for your next YES to a higher calling…a call to something exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ask or think, according to the power that works in you (Ephesians 3.20-21).

RelationSHIFTs reveal what is finished and prepare us for what – and who – is to come.
They guide us away from what no longer fits and usher in the people and wisdom we didn’t know we needed. They fan the flame of the gifts inside of us until they catch on fire.

May you have the strength to release what is behind you with grace,
the hopeful expectancy to welcome what is to come,
and the insight to recognize the Ruths assigned to your next season.

And as you move, may the preparation you’ve been undergoing continue to hold:
hold you,
hold us,
and hold us together
in the ways that matter most.

Happy Holy Season,
Pastor Bethany
Bethany Johnson-Javois, President & CEO
Deaconess Foundation

This piece was featured in The St. Louis American.

Read the full December newsletter here.