September 9, 2025 • 15 mins
In this opening episode of Season Two of the Infinitely Precious Podcast, host James Henry reflects on the meaning of life’s transitions—both large and small—through the lens of his own recent experiences of moving congregations, relocating homes, and navigating loss. With honesty and warmth, he explores the challenges of change, from exhaustion and uncertainty to the opportunities for growth and renewal. James offers guiding questions to help listeners discern what to leave behind, what to carry forward, and how to stay grounded through supportive relationships, spiritual practices, and simple pauses to breathe. Whether you are new to the podcast or returning, this episode is an invitation to reframe transitions as spaces of possibility and to remember always that you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
intro (00:00):
Welcome to the infinitely precious podcast produced by
(00:03):
infinitely precious LLC. Yourhost is James Henry. Remember,
you are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are.
James (00:12):
Hello, beloved. It's me, James, and welcome back to a
second season of the InfinitelyPrecious podcast. I have missed
the time I've had with you. I'veenjoyed taking some time off
though. I have enjoyed theopportunity to sit back and to
ponder if the podcast would comeback or not, if this was
(00:36):
something that I, wanted tocontinue doing, spending my time
doing, engaging with in thisworld in which we live.
We always get choices about howwe'll allocate our time and with
all the changes that werehappening in my life, it was a
good question for me to ponder.If you're a first time listener,
(00:59):
if this is a first time thatyou're with us, I want to say
welcome to you. I'm delightedthat you found us. I encourage
you if you find meaning in thistime to share it with your
friends. I also invite you towrite to me,
infinitelypreciousllcgmail dotcom, and let me know if there's
(01:23):
a topic you want to hearsomething about.
I can't promise that I'll haveany good answers for you, but I
certainly might have a response,some thoughts to share with you.
So please feel free to use touse that form of being in touch.
So, as I thought during thistime of hiatus, what I
(01:48):
originally thought would just bea month off, the month of June,
became the month of June, thenJuly, then August, and now it is
September. Each month I ponderedwhether it was time for me to
come back, if I was ready tocome back, and the truth was I
was still in that kind of inbetween space where I was
(02:09):
learning so much in my new jobas pastor at a different church
that there were enough thingsgoing on that I wasn't sure I
had something to add to theconversation, something to say.
There were certainly a lot ofthings on my mind, but I wasn't
prepared to share them yet.
(02:31):
So today I thought I would takea moment to offer you some
thoughts about transitions. Andthe reasons why I thought I
would do that is because, ofcourse, I just went through one,
and it taught me some things. Ittaught me some things that I
want to share that I felt likewere worth sharing. So here I am
(02:53):
potentially to share some ofthose thoughts with you. So
thanks for joining me for thisconversation, whether you're
returning or whether this isyour first time.
So transitions, what can welearn from them? Well, first of
all, I have to say to you thatas the time came towards the
(03:17):
transition, and this was a largetransition in my life, it wasn't
a subtle transition wheresuddenly I found myself in a new
place. I knew from January on ofthis year, and we're in
September, I knew from Januaryon that, I was going to be
moving from the job that I had.Now, not a whole lot of other
(03:39):
people knew that, but my bishophad already called and, well, my
district superintendent onbehalf of the bishop had called
to tell me I was going somewhereelse. So I was already kind of
in a transitional mindset.
What can I do to best leavethings where I was the best I
could be as I moved on to a newplace and how could I get up and
(04:06):
running in a new place? Whatwould it be like to change
positions to move to a newplace? And I do have to say that
when you begin to pondertransitions, the bigger
transitions in life, I waschanging jobs and positions, I
was moving from one house toanother house, one parsonage
(04:28):
owned by one church to theparsonage owned by another
church, and in the midst of thatmy dad died. And there were all
these little transitional piecesthat were happening in that
time. And so there was a senseof, chaos, a sense of fear
occasionally, concern, questionsabout who I am and what I bring,
(04:55):
would arise in the midst ofthat.
And then there's just in themidst of transition, sometimes a
sense of being tired. It'sexhausting to pack boxes, to
sort through the detritus ofone's life, if you will. And so
as we sorted and I gave awaythings that I had, and I
(05:17):
repurposed things and threw somethings away that were no longer
any good, relocated some thingsthat never belonged in the house
to begin with, but somehow madeit there during one of the
transitions that the formerchurch I served made from one
building to another. So therewere things in my possession
(05:39):
that needed to go back there. Soit was a time, it's a lot going
on, and it can be emotionallyoverwhelming.
So if you're in the midst of atransition, I don't have any
super wise words that, oh, it'sgoing to be okay. Because let me
tell you, when you're in themidst of the transition,
(05:59):
somebody telling you thatdoesn't help at all. It doesn't.
It doesn't help all that much.In fact, you wonder if they
really have any sense of whatyou're going through.
So for yourself, in the midst oftransition, I encourage you to,
first of all, just catch yourbreath. Take a moment and step
(06:20):
back. Breathe. Breathe and knowyou are not alone and that you
too can make it through thistime. Feel the feels that you're
feeling and that's okay.
So as I transitioned, I tooksome time in the midst of that
(06:42):
to use a tool I have alluded toseveral times in this podcast
and in others I have done andthat is my journal. I use a
journal on a regular basis. Isit down, sometimes I come with
a question, sometimes I justfree form write whatever comes
to my mind for as long as I can,sometimes I ve just read
(07:03):
something that was impactful andI copy down a quote and then I
will write about how that quoteimpacted me. You can use a
journal for so many things andin the midst of transition, I
tried to use the journal to askquestions about what in my life
I wanted to carry forward, Whatwere the things this was an
(07:25):
opportunity for me to changethings up. Every aspect of my
life I was well grounded in myfaith, I had a sense of
spirituality, my contemplativelife seemed fairly solid, but I
knew things were changing, and Icould feel, this dis ease within
(07:47):
about the changing.
And so it was an opportunity toevaluate, Alright, well, what
are the tools that I'm findinghelpful in my life? The pieces,
the way I practice my faith, theway I practice my spirituality.
Are there pieces of it that I'vejust been doing because they're
(08:08):
a habit? No, habits are not abad thing necessarily, but am I
doing it just because that's theway I've done it before? Are
there some things that I mightfind useful to try and do
differently?
And so in the midst of thosetransitions, was trying to find
my ground. So it was anopportunity to say what's
(08:30):
important, what should I keep,what belongs with me on this
journey going forward, just likeI did with some of the personal
pieces. It was an opportunity tokind of sort through all the
feelings that come withtransitions, the fear, the
anxiety, the uncertainty. Whatis it that's causing me this
(08:52):
fear? What's going on?
It's an opportunity to get intouch. In the midst of those
chaotic moments, we often findout who we are. So I asked what
was important to carry forward,what needed to be left behind.
It was also an opportunity forme to recognize that we don't
(09:12):
have to go transitions all byourselves, that there are a lot
of people involved. Folks in myprevious congregation, helping
them transition, but having themhelp me as well set them some
things up in place in the midstof my moving on.
(09:32):
That was helpful. I had friendswho regularly checked in on me
to make sure I was okay. If youknow someone who's going through
a transition rather than tellthem it's going to be okay, be
like my friends. They justmostly listen just to check on
me. How am I?
How are you? How s it feeling?You ve been in the same place
(09:54):
for three decades. What does itfeel like to sort through all
that stuff that you have piledup there? What does it feel like
to leave?
How are you doing with thistransition? Do you need to grab
coffee? Do you have time to grabcoffee? And if you don't have
time to grab coffee, maybe youreally need to allocate some
time to drink coffee anyway,just to sit down with me, find
(10:16):
out how you're doing. You're notalone in these kinds of things.
You can find support in yourcommunities, you can find
support among your friends,family, people who just want to
be there to care about you.Transitions do not have to be a
(10:37):
lonely journey. They can be onesthat you make with other people
because other people are therewith you. So just remember, you
know, to ask these kinds ofquestions. So I wanted to just
kind of summarize for you somethoughts.
Here are some questions to askwhen you are in the midst of a
(10:58):
transition. First of all, whatam I afraid to leave behind?
Whatever your answer is, it isokay. What are you afraid to
leave behind? The secondquestion might be, what feels
(11:24):
essential to carry into what'shappening in my life next?
What feels like it's essential?Something that I can't just
easily leave behind. What arethe things that I want to carry
into this? Be intentional aboutanswering that question. You
(11:50):
will learn in the midst of thatto ask a third question and, you
know, to test out the answer toit and this third question is
who or what helps me to staygrounded during change?
How in the midst of that, howdoes my spirituality help me do
(12:11):
that? How do my, friend andfamily connections help me stay
grounded? How does a practicethat I have, walking in nature,
taking a walk, taking a nap,catching your breath, taking a
break to drink a cup of coffee,whatever it is, how, who or what
(12:32):
helps me when things arechanging, helps me stay
grounded. I do encourage you totry to remember that transitions
aren't just about loss, theyalso offer us possibilities to
make new choices, to learn newthings about ourselves, to maybe
(12:56):
bring back to the fore somethings that we haven t used in a
long time, some new gifts orsome dusty gifts that have been
hidden, I encourage you toreframe your transition. Where
are the potentials in the midstof this transition for growth,
(13:16):
for creativity, where are themoments when you find joy in
those transitional moments?
Those are worth pondering, worthpondering. I don want to
minimize transitions. It was nota minimal experience for me. I m
still in the process, still inthe process and there will still
(13:39):
be moments when you might feeloverwhelmed by it. Catch your
breath, feel the feels that youfeel.
S okay. It s okay. If you needto talk to somebody, reach out,
talk to someone, but hopefullyyou ve got people in your life
that will check on you in themidst of those transition. So if
(14:01):
you are in the midst oftransition as I was, make some
decisions, make some choices,discover the things that you
want to keep, the things thatperhaps you should leave behind,
and if you are like me, you willdiscover some things you
definitely want to keep. Afterhearing from a couple of folks,
when are you going to start thepodcast again, I realized this
was something I didn't want toleave behind, I wanted to keep.
(14:23):
In this new format, s going tohappen once a week instead of
twice a week like before, untilI get my feet under me and then
we will reevaluate. But forright now, once a week, bring
you some thoughts. If you re newagain, welcome, delighted to
have you. If you re an oldfriend who s been listening for
a while, great to have you backand always, always remember, you
(14:47):
are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are. Thanks forjoining me today and I look
forward to next week, untilthen.
Welcome to the infinitely precious podcast produced by
(00:03):
infinitely precious LLC. Yourhost is James Henry. Remember,
you are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are.
James (00:12):
Hello, beloved. It's me, James, and welcome back to a
second season of the InfinitelyPrecious podcast. I have missed
the time I've had with you. I'veenjoyed taking some time off
though. I have enjoyed theopportunity to sit back and to
ponder if the podcast would comeback or not, if this was
(00:36):
something that I, wanted tocontinue doing, spending my time
doing, engaging with in thisworld in which we live.
We always get choices about howwe'll allocate our time and with
all the changes that werehappening in my life, it was a
good question for me to ponder.If you're a first time listener,
(00:59):
if this is a first time thatyou're with us, I want to say
welcome to you. I'm delightedthat you found us. I encourage
you if you find meaning in thistime to share it with your
friends. I also invite you towrite to me,
infinitelypreciousllcgmail dotcom, and let me know if there's
(01:23):
a topic you want to hearsomething about.
I can't promise that I'll haveany good answers for you, but I
certainly might have a response,some thoughts to share with you.
So please feel free to use touse that form of being in touch.
So, as I thought during thistime of hiatus, what I
(01:48):
originally thought would just bea month off, the month of June,
became the month of June, thenJuly, then August, and now it is
September. Each month I ponderedwhether it was time for me to
come back, if I was ready tocome back, and the truth was I
was still in that kind of inbetween space where I was
(02:09):
learning so much in my new jobas pastor at a different church
that there were enough thingsgoing on that I wasn't sure I
had something to add to theconversation, something to say.
There were certainly a lot ofthings on my mind, but I wasn't
prepared to share them yet.
(02:31):
So today I thought I would takea moment to offer you some
thoughts about transitions. Andthe reasons why I thought I
would do that is because, ofcourse, I just went through one,
and it taught me some things. Ittaught me some things that I
want to share that I felt likewere worth sharing. So here I am
(02:53):
potentially to share some ofthose thoughts with you. So
thanks for joining me for thisconversation, whether you're
returning or whether this isyour first time.
So transitions, what can welearn from them? Well, first of
all, I have to say to you thatas the time came towards the
(03:17):
transition, and this was a largetransition in my life, it wasn't
a subtle transition wheresuddenly I found myself in a new
place. I knew from January on ofthis year, and we're in
September, I knew from Januaryon that, I was going to be
moving from the job that I had.Now, not a whole lot of other
(03:39):
people knew that, but my bishophad already called and, well, my
district superintendent onbehalf of the bishop had called
to tell me I was going somewhereelse. So I was already kind of
in a transitional mindset.
What can I do to best leavethings where I was the best I
could be as I moved on to a newplace and how could I get up and
(04:06):
running in a new place? Whatwould it be like to change
positions to move to a newplace? And I do have to say that
when you begin to pondertransitions, the bigger
transitions in life, I waschanging jobs and positions, I
was moving from one house toanother house, one parsonage
(04:28):
owned by one church to theparsonage owned by another
church, and in the midst of thatmy dad died. And there were all
these little transitional piecesthat were happening in that
time. And so there was a senseof, chaos, a sense of fear
occasionally, concern, questionsabout who I am and what I bring,
(04:55):
would arise in the midst ofthat.
And then there's just in themidst of transition, sometimes a
sense of being tired. It'sexhausting to pack boxes, to
sort through the detritus ofone's life, if you will. And so
as we sorted and I gave awaythings that I had, and I
(05:17):
repurposed things and threw somethings away that were no longer
any good, relocated some thingsthat never belonged in the house
to begin with, but somehow madeit there during one of the
transitions that the formerchurch I served made from one
building to another. So therewere things in my possession
(05:39):
that needed to go back there. Soit was a time, it's a lot going
on, and it can be emotionallyoverwhelming.
So if you're in the midst of atransition, I don't have any
super wise words that, oh, it'sgoing to be okay. Because let me
tell you, when you're in themidst of the transition,
(05:59):
somebody telling you thatdoesn't help at all. It doesn't.
It doesn't help all that much.In fact, you wonder if they
really have any sense of whatyou're going through.
So for yourself, in the midst oftransition, I encourage you to,
first of all, just catch yourbreath. Take a moment and step
(06:20):
back. Breathe. Breathe and knowyou are not alone and that you
too can make it through thistime. Feel the feels that you're
feeling and that's okay.
So as I transitioned, I tooksome time in the midst of that
(06:42):
to use a tool I have alluded toseveral times in this podcast
and in others I have done andthat is my journal. I use a
journal on a regular basis. Isit down, sometimes I come with
a question, sometimes I justfree form write whatever comes
to my mind for as long as I can,sometimes I ve just read
(07:03):
something that was impactful andI copy down a quote and then I
will write about how that quoteimpacted me. You can use a
journal for so many things andin the midst of transition, I
tried to use the journal to askquestions about what in my life
I wanted to carry forward, Whatwere the things this was an
(07:25):
opportunity for me to changethings up. Every aspect of my
life I was well grounded in myfaith, I had a sense of
spirituality, my contemplativelife seemed fairly solid, but I
knew things were changing, and Icould feel, this dis ease within
(07:47):
about the changing.
And so it was an opportunity toevaluate, Alright, well, what
are the tools that I'm findinghelpful in my life? The pieces,
the way I practice my faith, theway I practice my spirituality.
Are there pieces of it that I'vejust been doing because they're
(08:08):
a habit? No, habits are not abad thing necessarily, but am I
doing it just because that's theway I've done it before? Are
there some things that I mightfind useful to try and do
differently?
And so in the midst of thosetransitions, was trying to find
my ground. So it was anopportunity to say what's
(08:30):
important, what should I keep,what belongs with me on this
journey going forward, just likeI did with some of the personal
pieces. It was an opportunity tokind of sort through all the
feelings that come withtransitions, the fear, the
anxiety, the uncertainty. Whatis it that's causing me this
(08:52):
fear? What's going on?
It's an opportunity to get intouch. In the midst of those
chaotic moments, we often findout who we are. So I asked what
was important to carry forward,what needed to be left behind.
It was also an opportunity forme to recognize that we don't
(09:12):
have to go transitions all byourselves, that there are a lot
of people involved. Folks in myprevious congregation, helping
them transition, but having themhelp me as well set them some
things up in place in the midstof my moving on.
(09:32):
That was helpful. I had friendswho regularly checked in on me
to make sure I was okay. If youknow someone who's going through
a transition rather than tellthem it's going to be okay, be
like my friends. They justmostly listen just to check on
me. How am I?
How are you? How s it feeling?You ve been in the same place
(09:54):
for three decades. What does itfeel like to sort through all
that stuff that you have piledup there? What does it feel like
to leave?
How are you doing with thistransition? Do you need to grab
coffee? Do you have time to grabcoffee? And if you don't have
time to grab coffee, maybe youreally need to allocate some
time to drink coffee anyway,just to sit down with me, find
(10:16):
out how you're doing. You're notalone in these kinds of things.
You can find support in yourcommunities, you can find
support among your friends,family, people who just want to
be there to care about you.Transitions do not have to be a
(10:37):
lonely journey. They can be onesthat you make with other people
because other people are therewith you. So just remember, you
know, to ask these kinds ofquestions. So I wanted to just
kind of summarize for you somethoughts.
Here are some questions to askwhen you are in the midst of a
(10:58):
transition. First of all, whatam I afraid to leave behind?
Whatever your answer is, it isokay. What are you afraid to
leave behind? The secondquestion might be, what feels
(11:24):
essential to carry into what'shappening in my life next?
What feels like it's essential?Something that I can't just
easily leave behind. What arethe things that I want to carry
into this? Be intentional aboutanswering that question. You
(11:50):
will learn in the midst of thatto ask a third question and, you
know, to test out the answer toit and this third question is
who or what helps me to staygrounded during change?
How in the midst of that, howdoes my spirituality help me do
(12:11):
that? How do my, friend andfamily connections help me stay
grounded? How does a practicethat I have, walking in nature,
taking a walk, taking a nap,catching your breath, taking a
break to drink a cup of coffee,whatever it is, how, who or what
(12:32):
helps me when things arechanging, helps me stay
grounded. I do encourage you totry to remember that transitions
aren't just about loss, theyalso offer us possibilities to
make new choices, to learn newthings about ourselves, to maybe
(12:56):
bring back to the fore somethings that we haven t used in a
long time, some new gifts orsome dusty gifts that have been
hidden, I encourage you toreframe your transition. Where
are the potentials in the midstof this transition for growth,
(13:16):
for creativity, where are themoments when you find joy in
those transitional moments?
Those are worth pondering, worthpondering. I don want to
minimize transitions. It was nota minimal experience for me. I m
still in the process, still inthe process and there will still
(13:39):
be moments when you might feeloverwhelmed by it. Catch your
breath, feel the feels that youfeel.
S okay. It s okay. If you needto talk to somebody, reach out,
talk to someone, but hopefullyyou ve got people in your life
that will check on you in themidst of those transition. So if
(14:01):
you are in the midst oftransition as I was, make some
decisions, make some choices,discover the things that you
want to keep, the things thatperhaps you should leave behind,
and if you are like me, you willdiscover some things you
definitely want to keep. Afterhearing from a couple of folks,
when are you going to start thepodcast again, I realized this
was something I didn't want toleave behind, I wanted to keep.
(14:23):
In this new format, s going tohappen once a week instead of
twice a week like before, untilI get my feet under me and then
we will reevaluate. But forright now, once a week, bring
you some thoughts. If you re newagain, welcome, delighted to
have you. If you re an oldfriend who s been listening for
a while, great to have you backand always, always remember, you
(14:47):
are infinitely precious andunconditionally loved for the
gift you already are. Thanks forjoining me today and I look
forward to next week, untilthen.
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