Liminality. Isn't it a beautiful sounding word? So lyrical. It comes from the Latin word limen which means threshold and denotes being in the space between two different existential planes. Think Alice down the rabbit hole.
In Week 4 of Open the Door, we were invited to explore the liminal space of the threshold that we may be standing in.
Life is a constant flow of changes and unsurprisingly, many of us are in the midst of a threshold experience, some more radical than others.
Joyce Rupp describes the liminal space between the old and new as a frequently disorienting experience, a twilight time, "neither day nor night", and yet, it is a necessary stop to sometimes gather resources.
Most of the time, transitions are not the most comfortable spaces to be in for we don't yet know where we are going, and yet, the decisions we make will dictate the future quite significantly.
I find myself on multiple thresholds at this point in time. Some I have begun to leave, while others I am not quite ready to step over.
The hardest thing I find about moving through the liminal space is being able to let go of what does not work anymore (which in the moment I still want to cling onto only because it is familiar) and to brave the murky future with open arms and bare hands.
Control is an illusion I suffer from, that being in control, idling along in the stultifying shallows of mediocrity is better than venturing into the deep for that requires more courage and humility than I have.
Joyce Rupp recommends a heart of trust, one that is able to accept the mystery. God's mystery. Likewise, this is what Jesus encouraged Martha to cultivate when her brother Lazarus had died.
Many of us, like Martha, may believe in Christ, but how much we acknowledge Him as the resurrection and the life, especially when something bad happens, is the acid test of faith.
Paying lip service, but questioning Him at every step of the way demonstrates a faith that is still fairly nascent (just when I thought I was getting somewhere), and an inability to die to self.
As K reminded us last Friday, the only way forward is inward. In stillness. It is in nurturing our relationship with Jesus that we are given the gifts of insight, courage and perseverance amplified many times over.
His grace is always sufficient. But first, we have to seek it and to continue to trust in its mystery.
In Week 4 of Open the Door, we were invited to explore the liminal space of the threshold that we may be standing in.
Life is a constant flow of changes and unsurprisingly, many of us are in the midst of a threshold experience, some more radical than others.
Joyce Rupp describes the liminal space between the old and new as a frequently disorienting experience, a twilight time, "neither day nor night", and yet, it is a necessary stop to sometimes gather resources.
Most of the time, transitions are not the most comfortable spaces to be in for we don't yet know where we are going, and yet, the decisions we make will dictate the future quite significantly.
I find myself on multiple thresholds at this point in time. Some I have begun to leave, while others I am not quite ready to step over.
The hardest thing I find about moving through the liminal space is being able to let go of what does not work anymore (which in the moment I still want to cling onto only because it is familiar) and to brave the murky future with open arms and bare hands.
Control is an illusion I suffer from, that being in control, idling along in the stultifying shallows of mediocrity is better than venturing into the deep for that requires more courage and humility than I have.
Joyce Rupp recommends a heart of trust, one that is able to accept the mystery. God's mystery. Likewise, this is what Jesus encouraged Martha to cultivate when her brother Lazarus had died.
Many of us, like Martha, may believe in Christ, but how much we acknowledge Him as the resurrection and the life, especially when something bad happens, is the acid test of faith.
Paying lip service, but questioning Him at every step of the way demonstrates a faith that is still fairly nascent (just when I thought I was getting somewhere), and an inability to die to self.
As K reminded us last Friday, the only way forward is inward. In stillness. It is in nurturing our relationship with Jesus that we are given the gifts of insight, courage and perseverance amplified many times over.
His grace is always sufficient. But first, we have to seek it and to continue to trust in its mystery.
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