Before&Laughter

Liminal spaces in physical terms can be described as places we pass through, like a doorway, staircase, hallway or bridge.

Liminal spaces in psychological terms can be described as a stage of change or uncertainty, and can include things such as: adolescence, marriage, moving, the transition to motherhood, a diagnosis, death of a loved one, divorce or relationship break down, big decisions.

Such transitions can bring joy or sorrow, might be long awaited or unexpected, sudden or gradual.

Some can be short, like the anxiety before making an important decision, or long like a season in the desert or valley, a dark night of the soul.

Liminal spaces, though often lonely and unsettling, can be places of growth and transformation.

Liminal Space

The centre is shifting

I don’t know where I am

I don’t belong anywhere yet.

The landscape is unfamiliar

Yet I am not lost

Just on my way

Somewhere between where I was and where I am going

A sort of wandering in the desert

Betwixt and between

Familiarity fades and comforts are gone

All I see around me is a dry and barren wasteland

All I hear around me is silence

It is as if I have descended to the grave

Or been thrown in a pit

Exiled as a lonely pilgrim

In this season of the soul, this place of humility

I pray

Give me my daily bread

That I may not perish here

Lead me safely through

Lest I get lost and wander here too long

I surrender my desire for comfort, security, familiar

I await your vindication

The life of faith is a journey, not a destination

This is the landscape of transformation

I dwell in the in-between spaces

On the bridge between space and time

I’m not afraid to explore the dark places

When others hurry past- I stop and I see

I know how to be with those in desert places

Because I have been there too.

In this process of transformation

I must challenge old ways of thinking

Reframing past assumptions

No need to rush it

The new vision takes shape before me

And within me, and around me

New ways of being and knowing

A new mission may well emerge

There are few companions on this path

Yet I do not despair

Because

You call me to lonely places

It’s there I find where I belong

Liminal spaces are not somewhere to dwell indefinitely; a desert experience does not last forever… as we pass through God says;

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19 NIV