“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.”
~Thich Nhat Hahn 

There is a saying in Minnesota that there are really only two seasons: winter and road construction. We are firmly planted in the later in these waning August days. Everywhere we travel there is the prevalence of bright orange…..cones, signs, trucks and equipment. Sprinkled throughout this sea of orange are all the many workers in their brilliant yellow-green vests. It can make for a very colorful drive as we weave in and out of roads that have been diverted or routes that have been changed. One of the things I like about this time of year is that driving demands a certain caution and an awareness of, not only the other drivers, but of all those precious human bodies working on our behalf as cars speed by them.

For some reason this past week I have become very aware of one particular sign as I make my way on my familiar route between church and home, home and church. Among all the other bright orange messages, one stands out: Bridge Closed Ahead. Perhaps I am aware of it because it is impossible to see without thinking of the many bridges I cross each day on this simple journey. The ways in which the Mississippi River snakes through the Twin Cities makes it nearly impossible not to cross a bridge at one point or another. Bridges make our living here possible.

But bridges are also such a wonderful metaphor. We need these connectors not only in a literal sense but also in our relationships, our creative lives, our understanding of faith, the living of our unfolding days. How many times I have needed just the right words that will bridge a hurt I have caused another. How many times I have searched for and finally found the perfect bridge that connected an idea I had been birthing to another person’s idea,  creating an answer to a problem, a fuller picture of how to move forward. How many times I have heard one person’s words about God’s movement in their lives, words that have built a bridge to a greater understanding of God’s movement in my own. And how often I am in the presence of someone of another generation and experience the building of a bridge of years that brings me greater insight and generosity with where I am in my own life.

Bridges are important. They connect us and help us move from one place to the next. But I am also aware of people who are up against a ‘bridge closed ahead’ sign and they do not know how to re-route themselves. No detour is in sight or seems possible. That message of the bridge that is unavailable can be a devastating experience. I’ve experienced it, have you?

Perhaps I am also aware of bridges because I have just returned from a road trip where many bridges were crossed. Bridges across rivers and streams and through the Low Country waters of South Carolina. As we made our way across bridge after bridge, nothing had prepared us for the most magnificent bridge of all: the Talmadge Bridge that led us into the beautiful city of Savannah. It is a bridge that actually bows up in the middle and at one point you cannot see the other side. It feels as if you might be driving off into the water of the horizon. It makes your stomach leave you.

What bridges are you crossing these days? What bridges have closed for you? Which bridges seem to be sending you into the abyss? Each day is a bridge between this day’s gift of life and the next. May each of us be led gently from one side to the other. May we have faithful companions for the journey. May we have the courage and the patience to re-route ourselves when a bridge closes. And may the One who breathed us into being be beside us at every turn.