Grounded?
I went for a walk around Hillsborough Lake this morning. I haven’t done this much in recent months and I’ve almost entirely missed the autumn colours. I used to walk the lake 2-3 times a week during covid. I dropped the kids to school and stopped on my way back. This morning, I was struck by how empty the car park was in comparison to Autumn two years ago. As I walked, I was reminded of how essential these walks were for my wellbeing during those months. I watched the seasons change. There was one point around the lake where I stopped every day to take a picture, documenting the changing colours of the tree. I meant to put them into a timelapse – I never did that! The heron could nearly always be found in a particular spot. Once the lake froze over and it was stunning. The swan was nearly always in its nest during the spring. And then there were the people – the lady who walked her lovely big dogs every morning and always said hello and had a chat.
There was something grounding about all of it. There was comfort in the consistency of it. There was the reassurance that even in the midst of a changing, scary and uncertain time, the seasons kept changing and there was an underlying certainty. It is only in the last few months that life has been more normal for us as a family, as a church family and in work. I longed for this during those days. I longed for the social gatherings, for spending time with groups of friends and family, for church life being more normal and to be with my colleagues in the office. Yet I’m struck by the fact that I don’t feel any more grounded. Change continues in the world around us. We are recovering from the impacts of the pandemic and dealing with new crises in the world that make us feel helpless.
I listened to a podcast recently where someone talked about liminality (The Next Right Thing with Emily p. Freeman – Episode 253: THE ENNEAGRAM AND DECISION-MAKING WITH SUZANNE STABILE. You can find it here: https://emilypfreeman.com/podcast/253/). I wrote about liminality in my dissertation six years ago. I wrote about how we were living in liminal times as a church -between what was and what will be. I wrote about how liminal times are unsettling times, yet it is the ideal time for growth, opportunity and taking risks. I guess I had some idealistic view that we would grasp hold of that moment and seize the opportunities and find a “new” way of being church, thus bringing an end to liminality. I had no idea what was ahead of us as a family (my graduation from my Masters was a few days before Timothy was diagnosed with cancer) and we could never have imagined relapse, moving house, lockdowns, social distancing and covid! I genuinely thought that we would move through the period of change and find a new time of steadiness and certainty on the other side.
Liminality is a concept I have heard talked about more and more over these last years. Suzanne Stabile, in the podcast above talked about liminality, saying,
“I knew then that I couldn’t keep up with change…I read a book by Thomas Friedman and the title of the book is Thank You for Being Late, and it’s a big book and a big commitment and it’s worth it for every page. And he essentially said, “We will never catch up again. We’ll never catch up again with technology. We’ll never catch up again.”
The speed of change in the world is not slowing down. We are not getting out of liminality. We’re stuck here. Well that’s one way of looking at it! Maybe how we approach this is different depending on personality? Sometimes it scares me! Other times is fills me with excitement that we get to join with the God of adventure in an ideal environment for risk taking.
Coming back to my walk this morning though, I am reminded that if we’re going to thrive in this new normal of change we need the consistency of the things that ground us. We need the walks around Hillsborough lake and the practices and people that sustain us as families, church communities and individuals (remember Hebrews 10: 24-25 – “…not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…”). We need purpose (For those Methodists reading, we are “Living wholeheartedly as followers of Jesus for the transformation of the world.” This is a purpose I can commit myself to!) and above all we need to be confident and leaning on the God who never changes. We can be overwhelmed by the change around us (believe me – this is where I spend most of my time!) or we can seize the opportunities to find new adventures and new ways of being in this ongoing liminal space. We can join with the God of adventure in what God is up to in the world knowing that God wants the very best for us.
What about you? Are there practices that you have forgotten or neglected that keep you grounded? Are there people you need to reconnect with? Do you have purpose? Are you up for the adventure?
