Thin Places

I was recently at a workshop where the leader mentioned "thin places".  Now this workshop was on fasting, so you can just imagine what ran through my mind concerning thin places. My excitement rose as I thought I was about to learn of some mystical place where fat was miraculously dissolved from your body with absolutely no effort on your part!! I was ready to pack my bags!

Much to my chagrin, but then fascination, she explained that thin places are "places where Heaven and Earth are closer together." On the website, The Guardian, thin places are defined as a Celtic term for "those rare locales where the distance between Heaven and Earth collapses." Eric Weiner, in his 2012 article Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer, says you are in a thin place "when thoughts fall away and only a luminous quality remains." Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts describes thin places as "a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. It's a place where we can sense the divine more readily."

I couldn't help but wonder if I had ever been to a thin place. 

           -When my family and I stood on the beaches of Normandy in France this spring, I     definitely felt the whisper of the prayers that must have been said by hundreds of young men as they faced the ultimate and, for many, the final challenge of their lives. Does great sacrifice create a thin place?

           -When James and I were in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons last year, we stood mute in front of many breathtaking vistas.  Does majestic natural beauty constitute a thin place?

           -I have said prayers in 925 year old Westminster Abbey and 852 year old Notre Dame Cathedral. Does history make a thin place?

Are these thin places communal, where every visitor feels something ethereal? Probably. So what about personal thin places? I couldn't help but think about the private thin places in my life....

          -A swing on a back porch overlooking a westward facing pasture where laughter echoes.

          -A tiny house where opera played on the stereo, Paul Harvey spoke on the radio, and squeals erupted from Pounce games.

          -A garden built by a loved one's hands and tended carefully through the years where Moses lives and the hummingbirds buzz. 

Whether communal or personal, do thin places have to be stationary locations? Can thin places be events or memories?

            -The birth of a child, when joy and thankfulness so filled your heart that Heaven truly               felt closer than ever before.

            -A funeral where the life of a loved one is celebrated and then released to Heaven.

            -A simple time with friends or family when you realize how blessed you have been just because they are part of your life and your appreciation for that blessing swells so large that it creates a thin place between you and Heaven.

The very idea of a thin place as a place or time when Heaven is closer to the earth, means that creating thin places is possible!! When we acknowledge that the joy and peace we feel in our lives originates in Heaven, and we reach out to draw Heaven closer - a thin place is created. 

Love ya'll,

Shelli

God is in the hearts of all, 

and they that seek shall surely find Him when they need Him most. 

~Louisa May Alcott, 

The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through. 

~Edna St. Vincent Millay

Let God's promises shine on your problems. 

~Corrie Ten Boom

God enters by a private door into each individual. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today, I wandered through the field
Where buttercups and daisies grew;

      My Spirit loved ones went with me,

      And God was there; all this I knew!

I saw Him in the sunny sky

      And in the flowers at my feet;

      I heard His voice in songs of birds

      Upon the wing, so pure and sweet!

~Gertrude T. Buckingham