Pastor Angie's In-Spire-ations November 2016

I don’t know if you have noticed this lately, but it seems like many of us are in some sort of transition.  Even organizations and churches seem to be experiencing this.  Maybe it’s the change of seasons that calls us to a time of (here it comes, ready?) change, or maybe it’s God calling us to take another step in faith...maybe both.  I don’t know, but it reminds me of a word I learned in seminary related to spiritual formation.  The word is “liminal.”  Google dictionary gives two definitions.  The second is the one I want us to consider.  It is to “occupy a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.” 
I want you to stop reading for a moment and go position yourself in a doorway, half on either side of the threshold. Take this with you and continue reading once you’re in the doorway.  Go…trust me.
I’m trusting you to be positioned on a threshold.  Which room are you in?  If you followed direction, you’re not fully in either room, are you?  Look around you.  What would or could you be doing if you were fully in one room or the other?  Do you prefer one room over the other?  Do you prefer one room, but know there are things you should be doing in the other?  How much will actually get done if you just stay on that threshold?  How fulfilling would life be in you never left your threshold?  I don’t know about you, but the more of these questions I consider, the more uncomfortable I become. 
This is called being in a state of “liminality.”  It’s that feeling of being in a place, but knowing somewhere in your soul that you are not meant to STAY there.  It’s having taken a step forward and yet longing for what you are leaving behind, making that second step forward almost paralyzing at times.  It’s a hard lesson to learn that sometimes the things we leave behind on one side of the threshold are GOOD THINGS!  BUT… when we trust God to lead us across that threshold, to move us out of that doorway and fully into one space…what awaits on the other side is often beyond our imagination.  It’s leaving the good for the better.
The best part is that when God asks us to take that step, just ONE at a time is all God asks; God promises to be with us.  Psalm 139:5 says, “You hem me in, behind AND before, and lay your hand upon me.”  Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear for I am with you, I will help you and strengthen you.  I will uphold you in my righteous right hand.” 
If you are one who feels half in and half out, half here and half there, wondering if you should stay put or trust God to take another step…trust God.  Long for what God has in store for you more than what you are leaving behind.
Pastor Angie


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