"Everyday Thresholds, Purposeful Crossings” Jean Devenney

The space between. That is where the change happens.  Yet how often do we simply move from one thing to another, neither giving farewell nor greeting to our rich life experiences?  We often carry things along, not laying them down, not being fully present.  Or we just plow forward, missing the joy of welcoming the next thing into our life. Let’s consider these thresholds in a new way, a fully conscious way, an aware and purposeful way.   

Jean DeVenney is an active congregant of the Unitarian Unitarian Church in Eugene, where she serves as a Worship Associate and lay leader, Small Group Connection Circle and book group facilitator, and co-facilitator of an Aging and End of Life series.  When living in a small town in Alaska she felt the need for a spiritual community, so advertised in the weekly newspaper for “open minded, liberally religious and/or spiritually curious others”.  People showed up, so in her living room began the Kenai Peninsula UU Fellowship.  

Now retired, she spent most of her career as a college counselor and instructor, focusing on returning adults and student development.  When not traveling, camping, or kayaking, Jean is taking art classes, reading mysteries, exploring the concepts of the Enneagram, and aspiring to learn pickleball.   Her volunteer work includes her church’s food security programs, the local shelter for her unhoused neighbors, and serving on the Eliot Institute Board of directors for UU family camps.  She is a trained SoulCollage® practitioner and facilitates workshops in her community and online.