Thresholds

Whether you celebrate Easter or Passover or nothing, in particular, it represents a crossing of a threshold. Christians honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Passover commemorates the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt and their ultimate exodus to freedom. Both represent a passing from one thing to another. There is a leaving and entering, an ending, and a beginning. I find it an excellent time to recognize the comings and goings in our lives: new horizons, a change of seasons, the dawn of a new era.

Wise Words

The late John O’Donohue, one of my favorite writers, states this transition beautifully in an excerpt from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.

“At any time, you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it? A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a beautiful testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.”

Join Me

Regardless of the time of year, these words offer us essential questions to ponder, emotions to embrace, and decisions to make. I hope you will join me in fully contemplating these queries and embrace the confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, and hope that comes with each of your threshold crossings. The time has come.