I have enjoyed my writing class at the local community center taught by a retired English professor with a gentle spirit and a gift for teaching. Each week he challenges us with assignments. This week one of those was to write about thin places--a Celtic concept that refers to those places where the veil between heaven and earth is thin, bringing us closer to God. I think of these as places the Holy Spirit haunts, reliably if not regularly. My favorite such place is the Presbyterian conference ground at Mo-Ranch outside Hunt, Texas. I never fail to encounter God each time I visit there.
This week, however, as I was thinking about the assignment, I discovered an unexpected thin place close to home. Last Friday our middle son, Greg, his wife and their two kids, came to visit. They took me for a picnic at Salado Creek for Mother's Day. The cool, clear creek meanders over pebbles and between tall oak and elm trees in the small tourist town of Salado, Texas. The creek has drawn visitors since Native Americans first frequented the spot. Our three sons loved to visit the creek when they were young, wading and catching all sorts of creatures they carted home. On Friday as I sat beside the creek and watched my son splash in the creek and look for tadpoles and minnows with his son, eternity stretched out before me and for a moment time stood still. I sensed God smiling upon us in that beautiful place. Perhaps one day Greg's son will take his son there as well, as life continues to spool from one generation to the next in God's endless blessing.
Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue
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