Liminal

 

This week, I am sharing a few quotes from the author, Luis Alberto Urrea.  In an interview with Krista Tippett he said, “I think liminal space is where all writers go. Jane Hirshfield has some beautiful stuff about being in liminal space. That place of crossing, that place of pressure, of two things meeting — that’s a rich — that’s where the plankton wells up and the currents meet. And you can choose to see it in different ways. And either the border is a hideous, festering scar of oppression, horror, and violence, or it’s a fraternal space where two cultures meet and can exchange.”

 

The border exists not only between countries, but between people.  We can draw lines in the sand that separate us, that define and distinguish where I end and you begin.  On the one hand this is important to have distance, especially if the other person is hurting us.  But on the other hand, when we share 99 percent of the same DNA, we start to comprehend that our lines are often arbitrary.  This is the tension we feel within us, especially when the border is drawn within families or with friends.  In our soul, we want to draw a circle to include others, but sometimes people keep saying and doing things that break down relationships. 

 

Today, the last day of July, is a liminal space too.  We are about to cross over into a new month.  There might be the plankton of brokenness or pain from the past that washes up on the shore of August that you’d prefer to float out to sea never to be seen again.  There might be scars of border crossing in relationships that you wish would heal once and for all.  Or there might be a shared space where your life and light come and culminate together.  I invite you to hold this taught as you live through this final day of this month.  And may the wisdom of God guide and ground you each hour this day and in the dawning of August tomorrow.  May you have peace, love, joy, and a centering grace that infuses and inspires you.  Amen.