Episode 11: The "Thin Places": Awaken to Divine Presence

In this episode of Spirituality On The Go, we explore the sacred "thin places," those moments when heaven and earth seem to touch, and the veil between the seen and unseen worlds becomes thin. 

These moments of divine connection can be experienced through quiet meditation, the beauty of nature, or in unexpected encounters that awaken our soul. 

The Celtic tradition calls these moments "thin places," where God's presence feels closer than ever. 

This episode encourages us to cultivate awareness of these sacred moments, to reflect on your own "thin places" and recognize the divine that is always present. 

The episode concludes with a reflective poem, "In Praise of Thin Places," offering a gentle invitation to embrace these sacred experiences with wonder and awe.

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Transcript

Brian Plachta: 0:02

Welcome to Spirituality On The Go. Today I have a question for you. Have you ever felt a moment that was so sacred, it might have felt weightless, even surreal, that it seemed like the veil between heaven and earth had lifted, disappeared? It might have felt like for a moment you were someplace else. Maybe you've experienced those aha moments without knowing what to call them. Those moments when time stands still and the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary because you sense a deeper presence within you. A calling to touch something deeper, something almost mysterious within you, but real as can be. The Celtic people call those moments"thin places." They're the sacred spaces where heaven and earth draw near, where the veil between the seen and the unseen worlds becomes still. The Celtics have a saying,"Heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller." Scripture echoes the thin places truth in 2 Corinthians 16 where we hear,"Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." In those moments of thin places, we sense God is closer than we imagined, because our hearts have opened. Thin places are those moments where the sacred breaks through the ordinary. Where the veil between heaven and earth blows back. Thin places can be experienced in moments of quiet meditation. When the mind stills, the heart opens, and the soul awakens. Thin places emerge as you watch the sun melt into the horizon, its colors painting the sky with wonder. Thin moments appear when you hear that gentle whisper in the stillness of your heart, where you experience the felt sense of the divine as a flowing presence within your body, a gentle ripple that awakens your soul to the sacred nearness of God. Sacred moments might appear when nature surprises you. A herd of deer crosses your path unexpectedly, and you experience their gentle amazing presence. In those moments, we know, without needing to understand, that the Divine Presence is with us, patiently waiting for us to awaken to it. So as a spiritual tool for your toolbox, I invite you to discover a practice I call: Becoming aware of the thin places. Becoming aware of the thin places you experience from time to time in your life by naming them, knowing they're real, drawing your attention to those moments when you can say, aha, this was a thin place that I entered, if only for a moment. Cultivating the awareness of thin places is about developing a sensitivity to the divine that's always present, yet sometimes unnoticed. This awareness invites you to live with a deeper sense of divine presence, noticing those moments of divine connection through meditation, times in nature, and in the stillness of your own heart. So, I'd like to invite you to pause with me for a moment and enter into quiet place as I share with you a poem that I wrote about my experience in one of those thin places. I invite you to just take a moment. Find a safe place where you can be in the quiet alone and close your eyes if you'd like and simply listen. May the words from the poem that I'll read be a doorway, a space where the mystery of God's presence brushes against your soul. Here's the poem: In Praise of Thin Places There are moments when air softens, when time bends, when weight I didn't know I carried lifts like mist rising at dawn. A hush falls, not silence, but something deeper. The space between heartbeats, the breath between words. Here, knowing fades into pure presence. Woven of mystery and mercy, the veil between heaven and earth frays. It becomes so thin I could reach through it, but don't have to. Because something, someone, is already reaching for me. Not in thunder, not in blinding light, but in the wisp of wind on my cheek. In the hush of snowfall. In the way my breath gasps at the sight of ocean meeting sky. And though I cannot hold it, though it vanishes as quickly as it came, I am left marked, not with answers, but with wonder and awe. For a moment, God has brushed his cheek upon mine, and that is enough. Thank you for sharing this thin place with me. May you know you don't have to search for God. The Creator is already reaching for you, in the wind, in the waves, in the wonder that catches your breath. As you sit in the quiet, listening to God's whisper, in the stillness of your heart. May you use the tool of becoming aware of thin places to draw you closer to God's presence within you and around you. And today, may you walk gently. May you open your heart to the thin places in and around you. And may you know, deep in your bones, the Divine is always with you, ready for you to awaken to its loving presence. The Divine is always with us in these thin places, in the ordinary moments, and all we have to do is awaken.