As the New Year approaches, I think of the spiritual writer Esther de Waal, who reminds us that a threshold is a sacred place.
She teaches that the moments between what has been and what is coming are not to be rushed through, but honored.
A threshold is where we pause, breathe, and become attentive, aware that something is ending and something else is quietly beginning.
The crossing into a New Year is just such a place. It asks us not for resolutions made in haste, but to stand still for a moment, to acknowledge what we are carrying forward, while stepping gently into what we do not yet fully see.
In that pause, de Waal suggests, transformation begins, not with force, but with attention.
As this year loosens its hold and the new one arrives, I wish for each of you a gentle crossing. May the threshold into the New Year be a sacred pause, not rushed, not crowded with demands, but open and spacious.
May what needs to be released fall away easily, and what is meant to be carried forward rest lightly in your hands. As we step into what is new, may we feel held, hopeful, and quietly accompanied.
Happy New Year – Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin – Mom -Grammy
FYI: Esther de Waal is Christian spiritual writer known for exploring monastic and Celtic spirituality, the meaning of attention and transition, and the spiritual life in everyday moments. She lives on the border between England and Wales. Her book, read years ago, is the foundation for these thoughts I am sending to you for the New Year.
To Pause at the Threshold: Reflections on Living on the Border
Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin grew up in Evanston, IL. and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. She is an author of two novels: The Greening of a Heart and Facing East. She lives, writes and gardens in NC. Visit her: Stephenyhoughtlin.com
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