On the Edge

For many people the place where ocean and shore and horizon blend into one expanding expanse of eternity has an attraction which is compelling.  Some folks race into the surf to feel the wild surge of an unseen power.  Others seem content to stand knee deep in the constantly moving water, to take in deep breaths of salty blowing breezes, and to contemplate all that is unfolding around them.  The ancient spiritual mystics who lived connected to the Creation called it a "thin place" where the visible and the invisible flowed together.     

Those who swim in neck deep water and those who walk on the edge of the shore have different perspectives, but both find themselves in touch with what is both magic and mystery.  On the edge where surf disappears on the shore,  the water pulls us toward the expanding eternity that is out yonder even as  the sand grabs tenaciously to express the earth's holding power.   Being pulled two ways at the same time is a common phenomena experienced by anyone where ocean, shore, and horizon are joined.       

What is learned from the thin place is a reality constantly being experienced in every setting of life.  Always we find ourselves drawn toward the eternity God has created for us.  There is a longing for Him and all that He has for us that permeates our very soul.  And, at the same time, there is this strong pull to stay rooted in the midst of all that we know in the present moment.  We are pulled to hold ourselves where we are even as we are pulled toward heaven's shores.  While it might seem confusing and strange, there is something of God's design for us in the tension created by being drawn toward staying and moving toward home.