Thresholds are vitally important because they are recognition of the need to change our energy and our awareness as we move from one place in life to the next. ~Angeles Arrian, anthropologist

Though there are a variety of reasons people choose to walk the Camino, many on the path are in the midst of some type of transition in their lives, the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a retirement, or some other form of good-bye to something that was but is no more. For me, I was on the cusp of entering a new season in life. My husband had recently retired which meant our daily pattern of living would drastically change, or at least this is what I anticipated. The spaciousness of my days uninterrupted by the needs or schedules of others now that my children were grown seemed to be slipping through my fingers. What’s interesting is I had dreaded the day my youngest left for college, fearing the void left in my heart in the wake of his absence. Now I feared too much energy in the house as my husband returned after 28 years in a corporate career.

Transitions are like that, unable to go backwards yet anxious about moving forward. It’s like standing in the threshold of a doorway, the space between what was and what has yet to unfold. Thresholds beckon me to grow, move forward, trust, and say my goodbyes. They mark a time for change. Regardless of how many positive experiences I’ve had with major transitions – moving to Colorado, getting married, having children – there is part of me that resists change, that’s terrified of what’s next, that is perfectly happy with the security of the known. I do not welcome change with open arms. So my Camino walk was my extended threshold, a time to walk with my goodbyes but also a time to walk towards the unknown of my future.

One of my favorite descriptions of the threshold experience is written by the artist and author, Jan Richardson in her book, Night Visions. “I am still fascinated by thresholds—those places we come to that lie between the life we have known and the life ahead of us. I am continually intrigued—and eager, and fearful, and amazed, and mystified—to enter into those spaces where we have left the landscape of the familiar, the habitual, and stand poised at the edge of a terrain whose contours we can hardly see or even imagine. Whether we arrive at these between-places by design, by accident, or by the choices that others have made for us, the threshold can be a place of wonders. It can also be chaotic, discombobulating, and even terrifying. Yet a threshold, chosen or otherwise, is a place of wild possibility. A threshold invites and calls us to stop. To take a look around. To imagine. To dream. To question. To pray. “

Question: What keeps me from moving forward in my life? What threshold am I experiencing now?