My youngest daughter was diagnosed with a Macro adenoma of the pituitary gland. I spoke with her earlier this year about the difficult place she was in…. living in the thin space where courage and fear meet.  How for each of us, this thin space is lonely … we face these things within our soul, should we choose to be present to it.   Cherished ones can be beside us, and some caress the feelings we have inside, but it is in the stillness of the night where we can feel alone, no one really understanding this thin space.

On Thursday morning, while walking the land, my husband asked me my thoughts about what Good Friday meant to me.

My thoughts returned to this idea of a thin space where courage and fear meet.  The disciples turned in fear.  Not understanding the consequences of their choice. Christ, chose courage.  The disciples journeyed on living in this thin space as their fears transpired before their eyes. Watching their beloved teacher be put to death, demonstrating how to live in the thin space, and be courageous, not negating the fear He faced :  He cried out, ” do not forsake me”.

I believe courage and fear dance together as we sway with the rhythm of the beating of our heart.

The gift of Holy Thursday and the blessing of Good Friday

The table invites us to drawn near

Here

There is a blessing that carries

A weight

   known disappointments

Our failings inevitable

Clothed in our needs

Fears cling to our bones

 lacking the courage

We  share the bread, the wine

And return to our soft lives

Leaving what we fear

To stand alone

Against the mocking crowd

O thin space

Here we stand

The veil is torn

And the gap an open  raw wound

Where courage and fear collide

God

Grant me strength to be fully present

Be my companion on the road

That I might not turn my head in fear

But stand vulnerable in courage