Intentional Thresholds…
“And now that you are here, this blessing can hardly believe its good fortune that you have finally arrived, that it can drop everything at last to fling its arms wide to you, crying welcome, welcome, welcome.” —Jan Richardson, last stanza of Blessing the Threshold
This morning, after a series of small and frustrating glitches to start the day, I stopped trying to push through my to-do list. I paused, rested in silence, did a few stretches to shift my energy, and oh so slowly sipped my cup of hot tea.
Intuitively sensing a need to take time to recalibrate my body, mind, and spirit, I was reminded of the blessing we offered to each other to close out our weekend retreat this past Sunday.
Jan Richardson’s Blessing the Threshold, begins with “This blessing has been waiting for you for a long time.” What if a new blessing is always waiting for us to pause long enough to receive it?
We are continually arriving at thresholds, with some easy to cross and others more challenging than we might have imagined. A sacred pause to reconnect to the breath or to let an unknown blessing in might be just what we need to move forward with more grace and ease.
When a Door Closes
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
― Helen Keller
To Live
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde
Crossing the Threshold
Help me cross into the present moment—
into wonder, into Your grace:
that “now-place” where we all are,
unfolding as Your life moment by moment.
Let me live on the threshold.
―Gunilla Norris, last stanzas of Crossing the Threshold, found in Being Home, a Book of Meditations.
Blessing the Threshold
This blessing
has been waiting for you
for a long time.
While you have been
making your way here,
this blessing has been
gathering itself,
making ready,
biding its time,
praying.
This blessing has been
polishing the door,
oiling the hinges,
sweeping the steps,
lighting candles
in the windows.
This blessing has been
setting the table
as it hums a tune
from an old song
it knows,
something about
a spiraling road
and bread
and grace.
All this time
it has kept an eye
on the horizon,
watching,
keeping vigil,
hardly aware of how
it was leaning itself
in your direction.
And now that
you are here,
this blessing
can hardly believe
its good fortune
that you have finally arrived,
that it can drop everything
at last
to fling its arms wide
to you, crying
welcome
welcome
welcome.
—Jan L. Richardson
We’re excited to have Jan back with us via Zoom on November 17th. You can find out more and register HERE.
