A Thankful Heart

Finding Gratitude in a Liminal Time

“Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.” -Psalm 79:13

The best way I can describe liminality is our Lutheran understanding of “here but not yet” or how it feels to be standing on the threshold. You know you are going somewhere new, but you just aren’t there yet. This fall has felt like a liminal season for me and also for our faith community.  We are living into new patterns and priorities and it still feels pliable and uncertain but also fresh and exciting.  A liminal season of life feels and behaves a lot like fall. A time where leaves are drifting from the tree branches falling in unpredictable ways, where the sounds of tractors and combines soften to a low hum, a time to pause, reflect and once again consider.

A time, as the season changes to ask the question, “what resides within my heart?” When our #summerofkindness came to an end, Zeke asked me, “What are we going to do next Mom? Gratitude, joy?” I wasn’t planning anything, but as a family we decided to take the jar of kindness concept and tweak it to a bowl of gratitude. So now, on those mornings when we sit at the table for breakfast we go around and say one thing we are grateful for. As you can imagine, the answers come in all shapes and sizes, from the mundane to the profound. And surprisingly, it has been this activity which has grounded me this fall and kept me grateful when I’m spinning, when I’m not sure of the next step or when everything is just too much. A simple moment tethering me throughout this liminal season to my family, my heart, my gratitude and my God.

-Pr. Hannah