Crossing the Threshold, by Gunilla Norris

 

…On the threshold the entire past

and the endless future

rush to meet one another.

They take hold of each other and laugh.

They are so happy to discover themselves

in the awareness of a human creature.

On the threshold the present breaks all boundaries.

It is a convergence,

a fellowship with all time and space.

We find You there.

And we are found by You there.

 

Help me cross into the present moment—

into wonder, into Your grace:

that “now-place,” where we all are,

unfolding as Your life moment by moment.

 

Let me live on the threshold as threshold.

Opening reflection chosen and read by Amy W.

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I had the word threshold in the back of my mind as I began walking this morning across winter-brown grass. A question came to mind: I wonder if mine are the first human steps on some of these spots of earth—surely not every inch has been trod upon.

Up the bank, through the myrtle hedge, I enter what I notice as different terrain: ground thickly blanketed in pine-needles, quiet. My steps are cushioned.

Next, down and up a ravine, through a mesh of brambles, branches, vines, I cross into land covered in moss, spring green, asking me to touch.

Then a turn into dense woods, shaded, uneven ground covered in fallen limbs, cautioning me to watch my step.

Woods open somewhat to ground pocked with low mounds of spongy moss, sandy-green, scratchy to the touch. As I walk through them, I am surprised by holes deep enough to swallow my foot, and old ruts to navigate with care.

Just before I decide to make the turn back, the woods end, and a wide field fills my view. Live oaks on the horizon, only a cluster of fully opened daffodils close, dancing in the wind. For the first time ever I am moved to lie beside these yellow beauties, seeing from their vantage point how to welcome a day.

Today I was reminded: each threshold asks of me, and offers me, something different. As though each space were saying, “I’ve been here all along, waiting for you this moment.” All I can reply is, “As I have you.” Convergence.

Photos and reflection by Amy W.

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Thresholds, Winter to Spring, were seen everywhere. Personally I need to walk back through a threshold to rediscover my own disciplines and return myself to good health following a recent illness.

Photos and reflection by Denise P.

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I began walking inspired by the words of the Threshold meditation–focused on the “now-place”… “help me cross into the present moment- into wonder, into Your grace…” As I walked around the nearby pond, the bright green foliage of the sleeping irises jumped out with both vibrancy and stillness. Much of the plant life was waiting to erupt and step through the threshold into spring, but in the meantime, in the present moment, all was still and serene. A real sense of peace and gratitude came over me – so grateful to be in this now-place of stillness and beauty.

As I walked toward the gardens, the stark silhouette of the bare branches and Spanish moss against the brilliant blue sky spoke to me again of being both on the threshold from winter to spring, and the threshold of the now-place — certainly a moment of wonder and grace! As with the irises, the branches were ready to step over the threshold into spring as seen in the very small buds waiting to burst with new life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I was walking back to our meeting place, I walked down the long path toward a garden gate. This physical threshold was quite far away, and reminded me that it is sometimes easy to focus on obvious thresholds of the future — to both worry about potential outcomes of future events or have unrealistic expectations  — while all the while missing the wonder of the present moment. As Thich Nhat Hanh has written:  ” If you are capable of living deeply one moment of your life, you can learn to live the same way all the other moments of your life.” This reminds me to practice (and practice and practice) living on the threshold of the “now-place.” 

Photos and reflection by Nancy L.

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Reflection time– Photo by Denise P.