The first day of Spring has arrived, and with it came the long-awaited end to Winter. This seasonal change is an invitation to let go and take a brave step forward into the newness that is before you. For myself, the changes in season seem to affect me deeply. I like to spend a good amount of time reflecting on the previous few months and thinking through what kind of change I hope this upcoming season will bring. It is important that I invite God into this reflection time and prayerfully ask where He is leading me. If circumstances allow, I encourage you to take just a few moments to spend this time with Him, whether it’s going on a quiet walk, journaling, or whichever activity allows you to be still.
I came across a poem that illustrates the shift in seasons and what it represents in our lives. Winter felt unbearably long and bleak. Maybe it had something, or everything, to do with the crises causing division in our country while we simultaneously navigate a global pandemic. Whatever the reason may be, I believe this shift serves as a turning point for many. In the poem called “Thresholds,” poet John O’Donohue eloquently describes change and the goodness that is found in patience. He writes:
Thresholds by John O’Donohue
“The beauty of nature insists on taking its time. Everything is prepared. Nothing is rushed. The rhythm of emergence is a gradual slow beat always inching its
way forward; change remains faithful to itself until the new unfolds in the full confidence of true arrival. Because nothing is abrupt, the beginning of spring nearly always catches us unaware. It is there before we see it; and then we can look nowhere without seeing it…
To change is one of the great dreams of every heart – to change the limitations, the sameness, the banality, or the pain. So often we look back on patterns of behavior, the kind of decisions we make repeatedly and that have failed to serve us well, and we aim for a new and more successful path or way of living. But change is difficult for us. So often we opt to continue the old pattern, rather than risking the danger of difference. We are also often surprised by change that seems to arrive out of nowhere.”
Change is Scary
Change is scary. When we are faced with difficult situations, we have the choice to go a completely new route and cross into unfamiliar territory. In cases of abuse, it’s the decision to finally say no to abuse. That decision is unlike anything you’ve ever done before, and so it may be hard at first and might even upset others but is crucial nonetheless for your wellbeing.
Crossing New Thresholds
O’Donohue continues with the idea of a threshold:
“We find ourselves crossing some new threshold we had never anticipated. Like spring secretly at work within the heart of winter, below the surface of our lives huge changes are in fermentation. We never suspect a thing. Then when the grip of some long-enduring winter mentality begins to loosen, we find ourselves vulnerable to a flourish of possibility and we are suddenly negotiating the challenge of a threshold.
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 lovely 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 emotions comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossing 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; feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.
The Time Has Come To Cross A New Threshold
To acknowledge and cross a new threshold is always a challenge. It demands courage and also a sense of trust in whatever is emerging. This becomes essential when a threshold opens suddenly in front of you, one for which you had no preparation. This could be illness, suffering or loss. Because we are so engaged with the world, we usually forget how fragile life can be and how vulnerable we always are. It takes only a couple of seconds for a life to change irreversibly. Suddenly you stand on completely strange ground and a new course of life has to be embraced. Especially at such times we desperately need blessing and protection. You look back at the life you have lived up to a few hours before, and it suddenly seems so far away. Think for a moment how, across the world, someone’s life has just changed – irrevocably, permanently, and not necessarily for the better – and everything that was once so steady, so reliable, must now find a new way of unfolding.”
God the Father is with you in each step as you navigate these new thresholds. He has invited you to step into the freedom He offers, and He knows it does not come easy to trust Him. Yet only He knows the fullness of what is ahead of you if only you would trust.
Individual Destiny
“The script of individual destiny is secret; it is hidden behind and beneath the sequence of happenings that is continually unfolding for us. Each life is a mystery that is never finally available to the mind’s light or questions. That we are here is a huge affirmation; somehow life needed us and wanted us to be. To sense and trust this primeval acceptance can open a vast spring of trust within the heart. It can free us into a natural courage that casts out fear and opens up our lives to become voyages of discovery, creativity, and compassion. No threshold need be a threat, but rather an invitation and a promise.
Whatever comes, the great sacrament of life will remain faithful to us, blessing us always with visible signs of invisible grace. We merely need to trust.”
I pray today you are encouraged to take courage and trust that God truly has your best intentions in mind. Though the road ahead may be daunting, He has equipped you with strength to overcome the fear of change. You are capable of choosing to say no to what has been keeping you from experiencing His full goodness. May this Spring season bring hopeful beginnings and peace to you.
The entire poem “Thresholds” by John O’Donohue can be found here.
by Alicia
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