‘This is a place of possibility and power.’ Photo: by Joanna Nix-Walkup on Unsplash
Deep space: Kate McNally considers the in-between
‘That narrow space between fear and hope which is the place of faith.’
I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about the ‘in-between’ spaces: that pause between inhale and exhale when there is neither; that moment when a ball thrown up is poised between rising and falling; that narrow space between fear and hope which is the place of faith. When I centre down into worship I look for these in-between spaces. It’s here that I find the opening through which God can enter. It’s here that I lose myself and make the possibility of finding something greater than me.
There is another in-between space, not so calm and sacred. It was famously described by Auschwitz survivor and psychotherapist Victor Frankl as the space between stimulus and response. In this space, he tells us, lies our power to choose. And in that choice lies our freedom and our growth. This is a place of possibility and power – the power to choose is the power to change.
Our Covid-limited lives are in an in-between space. Sometimes it feels like the pause between inhale and exhale, or the equilibrium of the ball in the air. But most of the time it feels like a crucible, a place of transformation, a place between nothing and infinite potential. This feels like a place of possibility, a place poised between going forward and going back.
The possibilities for change and transformation are many. We can use this time to learn new skills and habits, to mend broken relationships, or to stay as we are. On a familial or community level we can grow closer or we can fragment. On a political level we can unify or divide. On an environmental level we can go into ruin or move into the unknown world of new ways to live. Or perhaps just go back to a simpler way of life.
Sometimes I am drawn into worry. When that happens I find myself in another ‘in-between’ space, this one between the things I hope for and the things I fear. While this space is wide, it can feel narrow and if I’m not careful it can take me in a spiral into despair. This is the place of uncertainty. It is also the place of faith, where I can find the courage to take the next right step.
I’ve recently been reminded of another Victor Frankl quote, to the effect that it’s not important what we expect of life, but rather what life expects of us. He follows that by saying that we should stop asking about the meaning of life. We should instead think of ourselves as being questioned by life. Perhaps this Covid ‘in-between’ time is life’s way of questioning us, of asking whether we will go forward or back.
We are challenged to let our lives speak. As we traverse this ‘in-between’ space, how will we be transformed? In the place between fear and hope, how will our faith manifest? Will we grasp the possibility of this time or squander it? When our lives speak, what will they say?
Kate is from Quaker House Brussels. The ideas here were honed with some members of Woodbrooke’s Equipping for Ministry course.
