On the advent of March or April many who are working in public sector and government institutions get creeps. They anticipate with dread and horror the transfer orders. With green eyes they look at people who are stationed at one place for years together. “I told you not to opt for promotion. I told you to work in some private institution so that you too can stay in the same place. See! you move like nomads from one place to another every five years. Oh! what a pity. You have to rent a convenient house. You have to seek admission in good schools for your children. You have to find a new maid to help you in your daily chores. You have to transfer your bank account, your ration card…. Oh! Thank and praise God!. I am not like you. I am comfortably settled at my own house….” Such words upset the transferee and put him in a fix. He thinks that his God plus the whole world is against him. He curses himself for the transferable job. In this melee, he forgets that God has a definite purpose in putting him in such a job.
Israelites are by and large nomads. In their long journeys God has taught them several lessons. Whether it is rain or shine-there is always a lesson to be learnt, a purpose to be realised and God’s will to be fulfilled. When one surrenders everything to God and looks from God’s perspective, transfer becomes an enjoyable affair – a thing to be looked forward to. This is what God has taught us.
When we were at Madurai, my wife Ahalya was at the verge of a promotion. We prayed about it and put everything in His safe hands. We said, “Lord, if it is your will let Ahalya get her promotion. If you are taking us to different places, please see to it that we move as a family. Whom God has united, let not transfer put asunder.” We were calm after that surrender. Our unchanging God has taken us from Madurai to Vellore, then to Pondicherry and then He brought us to Madras. Believe it, the separation was only for a brief period. Only now it is three months since Ahalya joined at Madras, and I am still at Villupuram. But God will bring me soon to Madras and in the meantime the Saviour has given me strength to commute to Villupuram daily.
There are many advantages though there are some disadvantages. Listen to what our son Prince says: “We adapt ourselves to different kinds of environment. We get many friends and we learn many things about life”. Our daughter Pearlie is always thrilled at the thought of transfer. She says, “It is a rare opportunity that few people enjoy. In our case we were able to learn music only because we shifted from Vellore to Pondy. This has helped us to play in churches. Of course, there is the sorrow of leaving our old friends and neighbours. But we are able to maintain friendship through letters.”
On the other hand, going on a transfer has its own disadvantages like strain, tension, anxiety and apprehension. But we have the only security that the good Shepherd is in control of everything. My wife Ahalya says, “When we shift to a new place, we land up there as strangers, with God as our only friend, hope and strength. Transfers have taught me to be more dependent on God. God plans every single step beautifully but I usually take a long time to understand this. The thrill of packing and arranging things and then shifting everything carefully and then settling down in a new place and trying to find places for all the junks that we carry along with us – all these can be nerve racking and at the same time enjoyable experiences. Though l am the only child to my parents, I have become the sister of many brothers and sisters of different places. These shifts make us more amiable and broad- minded as to accept anybody who comes to our house with warmth and affection.
” Variety is the spice of life”, goes the old adage. There is no thrill in sitting at one place for the whole of your life. Transfers open new vistas, new avenues, new challenges. When you face these challenges and overcome them with the Almighty’s help, you gain confidence and joy. When you are in the centre of God’s will, transfers are not trials; they are opportunities to minister to new people, students and colleagues.
Whenever God takes you somewhere it is for a purpose. The students need you. Acknowledge that; search for the institutions where there is a need and act presently. As you are sure that you are going to stay in a place only for a brief period, it gives you a sense of urgency. You cannot procrastinate. You try to give your best to the needy in that brief period. Then you go to the next place. You go to a new place – a better trained, a better equipped and more experienced person. God’s vineyard needs people like you. So, next time when you get a transfer don’t grudge. Face the situation and conquer it.
-Dr. Richard Samuel.
