Earlier this past week, I had an appointment in Asheville, necessitating a trip down the mountains into the city. Even though it is a long trek, I never tire of the spectacular view during my drive. Our home sits just over the state line in East Tennessee near the vast Cherokee National Forest and the Appalachian Trail. The highest point on my way south is Sam’s Gap at an elevation of almost 3,800 feet. The topography here is rugged and untamed. This is God’s wild, wonderful creation experienced in the raw. I marvel every day at the sheer beauty of these sacred spaces—daring a glimpse beyond the veil.
Have you experienced these “thin places” where heaven seems to touch the earth and humanity intersects with the divine? Celtic Christians first used this term to describe sacred locations where seekers encountered God. These typically were holy sites of worship. But thin places may not be a certain location at all but a sacred moment within an ordinary day. Sometimes God reaches into a routine activity and infuses it with holiness, surprise, and wonder. Such was my trip down the mountain that day.
As I crossed the Gap into North Carolina, a clear, robin’s egg sky surrounded me. The air was crisp, more like a spring morning rather than one the first week of June. Traffic was sparse on the highway at this early hour while the sun rose in streams of light pouring over the eastern peaks. Various shades of blue layered the horizon as ridge after ridge extended into the distance.
However, around the next curve, I noticed a thick cloud nestled in the valley below me. Fingers of gray splayed out filling all the mountain ravines and hollers. When my car plunged into the billowy haze, the fog surrounded me, obscuring my view, and giving me only fifteen to twenty feet of visibility. I slowed to a safe speed.
The cloud had settled over Asheville like a heavy shroud—a thick, impenetrable veil. Only after my errand was complete did I emerge from the haze on my trip home to higher elevations. To the citizens of the city, the enveloping fog must have felt oppressive and a bit eerie. Little did they know, celestial beauty existed a short distance away.
Isn’t life similar at times? We travel along not even realizing we’re trapped in a fog, not aware of the heavenly skies and majestic mountains right above us. When we dare to glimpse beyond the veil, we’re pushing through these thin places to experience the sacred spaces outside of our normal vision.
If you and I have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, the subtle shimmer and echo of the holy will capture our attention. Like Moses in the wilderness, we can turn aside from our routine activities to embrace the wonder of a burning bush. But how often are we distracted by the cares of this world and bypass places where the veil is thin? Or are we simply too busy to recognize the bounty offered by the Spirit right in front of us?
In spite of our human preoccupations, God in his mysterious, almost comical way, rescues us from our own self-limited vision. He essentially waves his arms and calls out through His creation. “Here, look at me” . . . in the splash of a mountain stream, the softness of a puppy’s ears, or even a drive down the mountain on an ordinary day. The Spirit beckon us to pass through these thin places, like entering the magical wardrobe to Narnia, so we might encounter the divine. If you dare to take a glimpse beyond the veil to these sacred spaces, God will surely meet your there.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Psalms 19:1-4 NIV
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