Between the Almost and the Not Yet

Ask any kid on a car journey about liminal space, and they will stare at you blankly.  But they all know the experience of liminality.  And so do you.  We find ourselves in liminal spaces all the time. How do I know?  Ever asked or answered this question on a road trip? “Are we there yet?” If you have answered with the words, “almost” or “not yet”, you understand the concept of  a liminal space. They are those transitional spaces in our lives that come between the Almost and the Not Yet.  They are transitory spaces.  Places where you cross one threshold but you are not quite to where you are going. 

In a house, we would call them entryways or hallways.  A place, not to stay, but to get from one place to another.  Get trapped in an entryway by someone blocking your entrance and someone behind you wanting to get in and you experience one of life’s teaching moments.  There is nothing quite so awkward as being stuck in a liminal space. An elevator would be another great example of that.  It is used to get from one floor to another, and that is extremely helpful,  but to get stuck in one can suddenly become frightening. Even hanging out in a stairwell of building leaves us feeling out of sorts.  Use it the way it was designed, and it is useful.  Stay there too long and it begins to feel a bit creepy.

In our world today, we find ourselves at that awkward place of liminality.  We are not yet through the pandemic, but almost.  We can see light at the end of the tunnel, and we certainly aren't where we were a year ago, but we aren’t yet back to normal.  That teen with a learner’s permit? Liminal state.  That pursuit of a degree?  Liminal stage of life.  They are phases to pass through but not to stay.  To be in a liminal state means that we are in transition,  moving to another stage, another place or another level. We have left one place and stage, but we have yet to arrive at our new place or stage.  And liminal phases almost always leave us feeling unsettled, unfinished or unresolved. There is something about leaving that liminal place and crossing into a more permanent or resting place that gives us the resolution we crave.

Moving from the kitchen down the hallway to the bedroom gives our purpose fulfillment.  We find sustenance in the kitchen and rest in the bedroom, but the hallway is not a place we typically hang out.  Its main purpose is to be the thoroughfare that gets us from one place to the other.  Necessary, to be sure, but not designed to be a destination.

Consider that one of the greatest liminal spaces for the Christian, that place between the Almost and the Not Yet, is simply called…mortal life.  Consider this: we know we have salvation in Christ as believers, because of what He did for us on the cross, and once we believe, we have left our old life behind,  but the fulfillment of that in its entirety is not yet.  And it won’t be until we cross the portals into heaven. This life, though it has many places of fulfillment and resting and enjoyments, albeit countered by pain, sorrow, loss and death, is really only a liminal space. 

From the womb to the tomb, this journey we are on is not a place we are to crave staying, any more than we would desire to always stand in the foyer or camp out in the hallway.  And even when we arrive at the tomb, it too, in reality, is only a liminal place.  We are, for lack of a better way to view it, stuck between the almost and the not yet.  In fact, according to scripture there are only two ultimate destinations-Heaven or Hell. And that isn’t so much a place as it is a Person. While I believe heaven and hell can be physical locations,  I believe they are more accurately descriptions of either being with Jesus or away from Him.

All through scripture, God continues to remind us that, though we were born here, this is only the hallway to heaven.  He seeks to help us understand that He intentioned more for us in the beginning, and though we blew that plan to pieces through our sin,  through Jesus, God desires to rescue us from our liminal spaces, both physical and mental, and deliver us to a place of true destiny; our ultimate destiny.   A place where we will finally discover in totality, who we really are, and how we can live into that for eternity. To know and be truly known…and totally belong.

That destiny can start here and now.  It is one of purpose and intentionality: to pursue the Creator God in personal relationship, to seek and discover how God has put us together and to utilize those gifts to help others see the futility in seeking anything on this earth as a final destination.  Wealth?  Fleeting.  Power? Fickle and damaging.  Fame? Here today, forgotten tomorrow.  All liminal spaces.  None of them are permanent destinations.  Those who pursue them find, after attaining a certain amount of any or all,  that there is still more of each to seek after.  And even if you could attain all of the money that exists in the world, all of the power that is available and all the fame you possibly could attain, the burning question would still be: Is this all there is?  Now what?

They are the same questions that all seek.  And the answers?  No.  This isn’t all there is.  You have an ultimate destiny and it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Now what?  Perhaps Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, can answer what we are to be doing until our ultimate Destiny-Jesus, comes to take us to our ultimate home-heaven, as we wait between the Almost and the Not Yet.

Eccl. 12:13    That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

Heb. 12:1    Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Hold on my friends…until the FINALLY HERE arrives.