Thin Places Part 1
July 27, 2025
Thin Places Part 1
Welcome to this week’s Daily Reflection on “Thin Places.”
When I made it through the barbed wire fence and into the forest, I was in a different territory. Instead of my mother knowing exactly where I was, here in the woods, I was free. Instead of the predictable, this was a land of discoveries and special places. The smells of the wild foliage filled my lungs, and the sound of chirping crickets and birds filled my ears.
I took a narrow path deep into the woods, while staying on guard for snakes. Like many times before, I entered a tunnel that made its way through tall, thick vines. In a few minutes, I stood in a covered clearing whose towering trees collaborated to form a natural atrium.
The woods were packed with hardwoods, pines, wild azaleas and dogwoods, beauty berry bushes, mimosas, sassafras, poison oak, goldenrod, and many other growing things. So, this open atrium was different from the rest of the woods. I did not know the words for it then, but now I realize that this naturally grown cathedral was a sacred sanctuary for me. While there, I was simply one with it all.
I wondered how nature “knew” to bring three tunnels through thick vines into a rising atrium. How did it know to let the right amount of sunlight into the cathedral? How did nature know to make benches out of fallen tree trunks? How did nature know how to make living columns of trees? How did nature know how to make this majestic sanctuary cool in hot weather and warmer in the cold? How did nature know to make a place outside where my voice and the birds’ call sound like they are in a room?
This special place had a “knowing.” It had wisdom. These days, I would say that it has an intelligence, a presence of its own. There was a feeling that this sacred space was also frequented by others … for all I knew, it could be gatherings of animals or even angels. I knew I was not the only one to know about it and go there. I knew that when our dog Sparkle and I were there or with my brother Trevor, we were not alone, though I saw no one except the birds, insects, rabbits, squirrels, and an occasional opossum.
I had no idea what this place was, but now I know it was my first experience with a thin place… a term used by the Celts to describe a location with a different and palpable feeling and energy. The Celts’ thin places are where heaven meets earth, and both coexist simultaneously. It is where the veils between heaven and earth are thin, almost transparent. When you are a child, you know when a place is special. It draws you into it, and you want to keep visiting it. It piques your imagination. The world beyond is apparent. This was one of those places for me.
I wish to be there again, but a house in a subdivide stands there now. From what I have learned about thin places, the house on that place may have the same energy as the cathedral that once grew there! Dare I go to this house, knock on the door, and describe to them the sacred place on which their home sits?
Spiritual practice: Think of a special place that holds sacred energy for you. Visit it and take notice of its atmosphere and how you feel there. Could it be a thin spot?
Self-inquiry: What would a thin spot do for your soul?
Dear God,
My soul child takes me there all the time. That is the only way I can enter that space. My being holds a thin place within, thanks to you. Amen
