“The Bible contains stories about thin places, or moments where God breaks through heaven and reveals Himself on earth. Some of the most beloved Bible stories record moments of finding peace in God’s presence in thin places.”

Bruce Rhodes
(“Peace in Thin Places,”  an article for CCDA)

There are moments in life that take your breath away and there are moments in life that breathe life into you from a place outside the realm of space and time …eternity.    Michael Card expresses this hard-to-describe reality as …”eternity stranded in time.”

Moments in time when your little granddaughter reaches up her chubby little hand to your forehead and says, “Bless you,” after you told her the story of Jesus blessing the little children.   Or that moment your grandson imagines the wonder and opportunities in a puddle reflecting the sky above when others might have imagined wet socks and an opportunity for frustration.

“Blessed are the pure in heart …for they will see God,” and if we pay close attention,  we will see God through them.

I was first introduced to the thought of “thin places” through the comforting words of a friend as she so beautifully described those precious moments you experience when watching someone you love begin their journey home to their heavenly Father.  Thin places.  

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (from I Corinthians 13 NKJV)

“Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (from 2 Corinthians 3 NKJV)

Eternity.  Here –but not fully known.  The Kingdom of God has come to earth but there’s more to come.  Here– but not yet.

Thin places give us a glimpse …a glimpse of glory divine.  God never leaves us without hope.  He gave the Holy Spirit to comfort by allowing thin places  in the curtain of time and space revealing  the reality of eternity.  Thin places. 

Those times in life when you’re experiencing great heartache or suffering …grieving or loss…chronic health issues or pain  — those can become thin places in which the Spirit can reveal the tenderness and love of the Father in ways we could never have experienced otherwise.

At other times, those moments of the wonder of the birth of a child …the joy of hearing “I love you” for the first time …the sacred space in worship with the Father …a healing touch …seeing through the eyes of a child — those can also become thin places to reveal wonder and amazement …a special treasured gift from the Father’s hand to your own.

It’s in the seeing.  The knowing.  Being aware of your surroundings.  Much like Mary, we hold in our hearts the moments we can’t fully comprehend.    “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

That view in front of you that you can’t fully describe or find hard to articulate the glory …thin places.  Holding a hand of someone you love in a moment suspended in time…thin places.

Enjoy the moments today, my friend.  There is joy in the journey and hope for your todays and your tomorrows.  Let the thin places reveal God’s special glimpse into the reality of eternity.  What joy awaits and what joy is already here.

“There is a joy in the journey
There’s a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey.”

from the song–“Joy in the Journey” by Michael Card