From The Innkeepers

July 2023 Blog
Life is a Series of Thresholds

We live on a series of thresholds. We move from one phase of our life to another in a process of constant becoming. Each day in and of itself is like a micromovement toward the larger more recognizable thresholds of the seasons of our lives between birth and death. For example, this month we move from the threshold of summer in June to a fuller experience of the season of summer in the month of July. In another example that involves a greater segment of time, recently Sharon’s and my grand niece Sophie moved from the threshold of high school student to the summer before starting her college career. She stands on the precipice of possibility, as we all do. I looked fondly on her picture of her first day of kindergarten, on which she wore a face of dogged determination, as if to say, “Don’t worry about me, I’ve got this.” All the years in between were some variation of that confidence, but I could tell that by the picture of the first day of Senior year, she was ready to move on to whatever came next. It is as if the fullness of that stage of her life was being realized and she was going to have to gear up for whatever frontier was to follow the one she was about to leave. We change gradually day by day, but eventually enough days accumulate and we get to honor and celebrate that by a life ritual. This one happened to be called high school graduation which like all rituals recognizes that indeed we have come this far for now.

As I reflect on the many thresholds of the past and those yet to come, I realize that each phase can often be accompanied by a variety of emotions from fear and anxiety to hope and excitement. What I took away from the experience of celebrating Sophie’s graduation, is that taking the time to ask yourself some questions, may help you navigate each passage. Where do I see myself at this time of my life? What am I leaving behind and what threshold am I standing on? What resources of my spirit will enable me to successfully cross over this next threshold? What challenges might I anticipate? What promise does this threshold bring to the self I have become? What part does gratitude play in my ability to gracefully pass through one segment of life in order to help me meet whatever happens in the next phase?

We are all on our way to something else, but as we take those first steps, we never quite know exactly where they will lead us in the end. In the flow of life, and in our maturation process we eventually come to understand that it all happens in the blink of an eye. That kindergarten picture of Sophie seems like it just happened yesterday. But today is what matters because it is what we have to live in the here and now. How we enter each day creates an engaged life, or not. How we enter each day of the journey is what makes the journey what it is. So, for Sophie and for all of us, I pray for the courage of awareness, to bring who we are, our gifts and talents, our skills and our voice, to positively shape not only our own lives for the but those of others. When we look back on the threshold of this day may we find that something in the world is better off because our lives touched it.

Blessings to all as we journey,
Marcia