Going to the Next Level

Going to the next level: does that phrase irritate anyone else as much as it irritates me? It gets under your skin and yet has an impact, like that other irritant about levelling the playing field.

The cliché “taking it to the next level” can have many applications. (Photo: morguefile.com)

I remember seeing it at the Post Office (remember them?), in an advertisement for responsible sexual behaviour. The couple is seeing a health professional to get advice before taking their relationship “to the next level”, which does not appear to be marriage.

While they are irritating, these phrases do have something to teach us by way of becoming more and more family-friendly. Yes, teenage boys and girls or those preparing for marriage should be doing serious consulting before they consider going to any kind of next level.

There was a time when the levels possibly started at a different point, but maybe there are still those wonderful innocent times when young “lovers” move from holding hands to kissing? What worried us?  Was kissing a sin, or how far you can go before it is a sin? What does that all mean in today’s world, and is sin any kind of deterrent?

Relationships don’t remain on any one level throughout life. One writer on marriage describes something like seven or eleven different marriages to the same person over a lifetime, which in essence means continually moving to the next level.

Greater closeness, deeper intimacy, wider acceptance, stronger commitment through all of life’s changes are levels that can be seen as incremental. As we grow older, sometimes the next level is downhill, decreasing health and energy, sometimes a body wasting away over time.

We are still in November and as is mentioned in the Thoughts for the Day booklet’s introduction to the month, there is a quality of permanence about family life but along with that there is the reality of change. There is birth, there is life and there is death. There are gains and losses to be worked through and accepted. Solidarity helps members to stand together as they move from level to level. Conscious preparation and openness to change make the transition smoother.

On a more literal level, the end of the year for thousands of school learners and other students is very much about moving to the next level too. Exam time has been stressful and awaiting results, especially for matrics, may be even more so. Let us hope family solidarity assisted there and we offer our prayers for positive results.

Those who have been taught well and prepared well deserve to move to the next level. The plight of those who have not had the support needs to be addressed with more than talk and empty phrases about levelling the playing field.

Togetherness was the theme for the year 2014, and certainly going to the next level is best done together — but at times it involves being alone.

I came across a poster while waiting to be attended to in a company’s reception area, a place where one does come across these relationship nuggets too. “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success. “

To continue the analogy, one could say that the feast of Christ the King celebrates Jesus’ moving to the next level — new glorified life for all eternity, which is the final destination we all hope for and which we have dwelt on during November.

December’s family theme, “Healthy Families, Hope for the Future”, brings the togetherness theme to a close. Advent and Christmas are not only holiday time but also a time for spiritual awareness of the coming of Jesus and possibly doing some special Advent activities while also being conscious of the needs of others.

Relationship growth and a call for responsible behaviour are important or else the next level may be unexpected and traumatic.

May this be a time of togetherness and celebration, safety and harmony at home and wherever families and their members are.

Finally it is appropriate to introduce the 2015 family theme: “Marriage and Family, Committed to Love and Life”. From togetherness to commitment is also a form of moving to the next level. Commitment takes effort, sacrifices and determination to meet the challenges faced. May God be with families as we set out to do so.