“…where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown.”

Richard Rohr

Liminal spaces fascinate me.

“The word liminal comes from the Latin word ‘limen’, meaning threshold – any point or place of entering or beginning. A liminal space is the time between the ‘what was’ and the ‘next.’ It is a place of transition, a season of waiting, and not knowing. Liminal space is where all transformation takes place, if we learn to wait and let it form us.”

I think Advent is the ultimate liminal space. What had been spoken of and taught for generations was on the cusp of becoming, but had not yet become. All creation sat with expectant waiting, with a hope for what was to come.

Waiting is hard. Choosing to believe that everything will work out when all evidence points to the contrary is hard. Silence presses in all around the emptiness of the waiting, deafening and crushing. Everything in us wants to run the other way or escape it or fill the emptiness, but hope keeps us there. The hope that something better than we could have imagined is waiting just out of sight if we just hold on. The hope that we have not been forgotten or left out or discarded. The hope that we are worthy of whatever it is we are waiting for.

Perhaps I love Advent and liminal spaces because that is where I find myself this Advent season.
Waiting was hard.
Choosing to believe that everything would work out even though all evidence pointed to the contrary was hard.
The silence was so loud.
Everything in me wanted to run the other way, to escape, or to fill the emptiness, but hope kept me there.
The hope that something better than I had imagined was there, just out of sight.
The hope that I was not forgotten. Or left out. Or discarded.
The hope that I was worthy.

And then, almost out of nowhere, a bright light pierced the overwhelming darkness. Hope. Just as it was promised. And, with every fulfilled promise, hope grows stronger and faith’s roots grow deeper.

I need these liminal spaces and I need Advent. I need those moments to pause, to breathe, to simply be, and to hope.

Peace be the journey.