Have you ever arrived at a starting point and wondered which direction you should go? In Celtic spirituality, these are called thresholds. Over my years of life, I have stood on more than a few of them. Each time, it has been a bit frightening and a bit exhilarating. Where will that next step take you? Will you like the trip? Will the destination be a good one?
We all have these points in life and if we are wise, we pay close attention to them. Most folks, though, do not really notice. They are often comfortable with where they are and do not seek to move to another level or another place. I wonder who gets to step into the threshold if I don’t? If you don’t? There will always be another, that is for sure and if you are like me, when I saw that other move forward it made me a bit sad. What was I thinking? Why didn’t I take that opportunity?
I learned long ago not to fret over where I did or did not go, where I did or did not cross the threshold. You see, I believe the Divine has many thresholds for each of us and we get to choose. That is the way of things in life, to get to choose. It is only when we turn these thresholds into have-to or musts that we begin to experience regret or even shame. Maybe it is time to let go of those. Maybe it is okay to just be where you are.
We live in a ” what have you done lately” world that is lying to us. We are allowed just to be. We do not have to do “one more better”. Heck, we don’t really have to do anything. But the world around us cannot settle for that. That world sees us for what we have or have not done, not who we are, who we are created to be. And, we buy into it. What would happen at the next dinner party, when you are asked what you do for a living if you just answered, “I live”?
Go ahead, I dare you to answer that way. It will most assuredly start a conversation. It might wake a few people up. It will always stop people short. And yet, as Christians, we are called to be. We are not called to do. We get to live out who we are and report only to the Sacred, the one who created us. I believe that is what Jesus was all about, just being himself. I believe he calls us to that as well.
TMM