There are a few habits, like, say brushing your teeth or checking texts, that you don’t think about. Life just would not work without them. I’ve come to feel that way about spending time with God. I have several habits, some involving seconds, some whole days, that draw me into awareness of God’s presence and give me spiritual strength. There’s lots of advice out there about how to stay physically well, and Americans are good at playing, which helps us recharge emotionally, but how to stay spiritually healthy is not such a hot topic. So the next ten posts will be about staying spiritually well.  But first, a few words about location:

A ‘thin’ place is a Celtic term for a location where it’s easier to connect with God, a natural place of beauty where the barrier between heaven and earth is somehow more permeable. I won’t debate whether these places exist in the objective sense, but what I know is that when I find an undisturbed place that delights me and I repeatedly use it as a base for praying and reflecting, it becomes a thin place for me. Just being there makes it easier to calm down, focus and become receptive to God’s presence.

Some of us don’t even know we need these places until we find them, and then it feels like we’ve been living on a fast train, and only by accident stepped off to still, solid ground. Then we don’t want to leave.
 My closest thin place is a lovely garden on a church property up the hill from my house. On a winding path of memorial stones, you pass under a bell tower,  flowerbeds and shady trees with stone benches, to a tiered fish pond. When I have less than an hour, I go there to think, pray or maybe just rest. If I have a little more time, I drive to Spring Grove Cemetery, one of the most wonderful properties I have ever seen – acres of towering trees, stunning monuments and endless flowers. The beauty of the place never fails to work its magic. Even without the effort to think or pray, you just feel better in a place like that.

When I can schedule a whole day off, I go to a retreat center an hour away, off the highway, past streams and farms and into the back country of southern Indiana. There are cabins there for people who need to get away. There are walking trails, a labyrinth and a lake with a spring that keeps bubbling up to its center. That spring is a metaphor for what happens to me whenever I go there. I experience the energy of God freshly, and realize it will always be there for me, if only I sit down and shut up long enough to drink it in.

We desperately need to find these quiet places, where our heart rates can slow and the silence helps us remember who we are.

Not everyone has access to beautiful quiet places, but even in a city there are little parks with hidden benches. There are churches open to the public. If all else fails, we may have to hide in a closet. Somehow, some way, wherever we are on the journey, we need to set aside time and place to be with God, or, if we are unsure there is a God – to seek truth.

So, this week – find a thin place or two.