For the Interim Time

For the Interim Time

 When near the end of day, life has drained
Out of light, and it is too soon
For the mind of night to have darkened things,

No place looks like itself, loss of outline
Makes everything look strangely in-between,
Unsure of what has been, or what might come.

In this wan light, even trees seem groundless.
In a while it will be night, but nothing
Here seems to believe the relief of darkness.

You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.

"The old is not old enough to have died away;
The new is still too young to be born."

You cannot lay claim to anything;
In this place of dusk,
Your eyes are blurred;
And there is no mirror.

Everyone else has lost sight of your heart
And you can see nowhere to put your trust;
You know you have to make your own way through.

As far as you can, hold your confidence.
Do not allow confusion to squander
This call which is loosening
Your roots in false ground,
That you might come free
From all you have outgrown.

What is being transfigured here in your mind,
And it is difficult and slow to become new.
The more faithfully you can endure here,
The more refined your heart will become
For your arrival in the new dawn.

from: "To Bless the Space Between Us" by John O'Donohue. Pub in 2008 by Doubleday.
Today at church, we opened our service with this poem. it seems pretty apt given how some states are looking at opening back up and others are still staying closed. So much has changed and yet things are still similar. What does returning to ‘normal’ look like after all of this? 

As the poem says “The path you took to get here has washed out; The way forward is still concealed from you.” I highly doubt that things will go back to what it was before. Our old path has been destroyed and our new path is unclear. Culturally, we haven’t gone through something this changing in a long time.


We’ve had time to get used to the new ‘normal’ but it’s also been a great time for reflection and rest in our busy culture. Take some time to think about what your new path looks like in the next few days. I don’t know where I’m going but I’m excited to see what the new path looks like.

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