In Celtic Spirituality there are places in God’s creation that are believed to be places where the lines between this world and the heavenly realm are blurred nearly to the point of non-existence.  These are called in, Celtic parlance, the ‘Thin Places’.

Many Holy Shrines are such places to many people.  The island monastic communities of Iona and Lindisfarne are such places

Lindisfarne Castle

for many Celts.  The ‘thin places’ are often times generally accepted along a wide community, but there are just as many of these spots that exist in personal experience as well.

I think that I’ve been blessed to be around a number of thin places in my life.  Both the generally agreed upon and also those that I’ve found to be ‘thin’ by virtue of travelling the pilgrims way and passing by them on that path.  Lately my ‘thin places’ haven’t been places so much as they have been the circumstances of my physical health and ability, or more accurately, the lack thereof.

Belden C. Lane has written a beautiful book about these sorts of places called; The Solace of Fierce Landscaspes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality in which he explores the importance of place in the spiritual life.  As with the

The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

places mentioned before, these places are not ones of particular comfort and ease.  The desert, the mountains, suffering and illness are all places in which we can be challenged beyond our limits.  In fact, I think that’s the point.  Remember, depending upon your Gospel choice, Jesus was either led or driven into the wilderness by the Spirit so that he could come to clarity about who he was and what his part of God’s mission was to be.

We are not often (if ever) willing to allow ourselves to be stretched beyond the point of comfort. We suffer the same ailment as did Adam and Eve in the Garden, we are tempted to be like Gods.

Illness, grief, suffering, drought, cold, wind, rain, dark, snow, heat and all the rest can be the ways in which we are drawn, driven or led to the ‘thin places’ in our lives that help us to regain perspective.  For me during this time of illness I’ve been reminded of two very important things.

• God is God and I am not
• Healing takes as long as it takes

Sometimes it takes a journey to the thin places for us to be reminded of our inabilities so that we can live anew in God’s endless capabilities in our lives and in the life of the world.

For today I pray for the grace and humility to be content with my ‘Not-Godness’ and the patience to be led by God to health, wholeness and healing following the pilgrims’ way for as long as it takes.