the thinnest place

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I heard an interview with Eric Weiner, the author of The Geography of Bliss, on public radio the other day.

He was talking about something that he called “thin places”….places “where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent or, as I like to think of it, the Infinite Whatever.”

What a great description.

I’ve been in some thin places in my life….but never had a description to encapsulate my awe.

“A thin place” doesn’t even really do the trick…..but it comes as close as any.

How are you ever going to “encapsulate awe”, anyway?

You don’t put the mystery of wonder in a shoebox.

You don’t describe the indescribable.

We took a trip out to Colorado to visit Jenny’s family one year….and went out on the prairie (which is kind of confusing….her family lives in what I guess is a high mountain desert….ringed by tall mountains….) to see some things….like the dump.

The dump.

You’d pass by it if you didn’t know it was there….a flat place out in the desert where people can dump their trash.

The dump is not my “thin place”.

It wasn’t our “go to” destination, anyway. It was just a place we passed through to get to someplace else.

We went to another part of the prairie….close to a mountain range.

It gave me a feeling something like vertigo….made me want to fall to my knees.

So quiet….holy, even….tall mountains all around.

I guess that it was a thin place for me.

It was one of the most beautiful places I’ll ever be.

Thin places can’t be forecasted.

I never could say when one is going to appear.

I can’t say when I’ll be in a thin place…but I know that it doesn’t have to be someplace exotic.

I look at my family and am in a thin place.

Maybe it’s not the place, anyway…maybe it’s where I’m “right” to feel God’s presence?

I need more reminders…everyday.

I need more thin places….and I need to recognize them when they come.

That high desert is so beautiful.

Maybe I need to get back there for a while?

“Colorado” Flying Burrito Brothers

 

Here’s a link to the Eric Weiner article….

 

My daughter took this picture….

About Peter Rorvig

I'm a non-practicing artist, a mailman, a husband, a father...not listed in order of importance. I believe that things can always get better....and that things are usually better than we think.

Comments

the thinnest place — 1 Comment

  1. We would love to have you-all come out for a visit soon! We have been really missing you! Fall is a gorgeous season out here on the high desert, surrounded by sky-high mountains.