Doyle Road Covered Bridge, Ashtabula
Doyle Road Covered Bridge, Ashtabula

Thresholds

by
Dr. John Spiesman
|
March 25, 2020

I have been thinking a lot about thresholds in this challenging and anxious time. A threshold is the space between -- between something old and new, between an end and a beginning, between something known and unknown. What about this time -- between old and new?  Between an end and a beginning? Between something known and unknown?  I think all of these are true.  What happens when we approach a threshold?  I think we generally resist it because there can be an element of the unknown, and in our human-ness we definitely can approach the unknown with reluctance, even though we may know that one of the constants of humanity is CHANGE.

According to Christine Valters Paintner (The Soul's Slow Ripening, 1992), thresholds demand that  we step into the in-between place of letting go of what has been while awaiting what it still to come (p. 3). It is when we are able to release our need to control the outcome states Valters Paintner, thresholds become rich and graced places of transformation (p. 3).

I wonder what could happen if, during this time of uncertainty, confusion and fear, we could allow a time of rich and graced transformation to enter the picture?  Would some of our anxiety and fear disappear if we were able to look at this time as an in-between time, and let go?   What might happen if we stayed grounded, centered, connected to the Earth and Universe while searching for a sign of something new to begin to come forth?  

May we live in this uncertain, fear-filled, uncertain time with expectation, embracing the in-between as we search for signs of newness.

Blessings on the journey.
Threshold before us.
Compassion, Kindness and Love.
I make all things new.

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