There are a few places to which I return frequently to experience the Manifest Presence of God, places where I know I will encounter Him and hear His voice. Usually these places are wild, natural places - places where the beauty of the world and the diversity of life lift my eyes toward Our Creator. It is in these places that I sense His power, His grace, and His love most intensely. In these places I know Him as The God Who Sees Each Sparrow, The God Who Clothes The Lilies, The God Who Watches Over Me, The God Who IS Love, The God Who IS Holy - transcendent, perfect, righteous, good. The ancient Celts described places like this as being "where the air is thin." That is, places where the earthly and heavenly realms appeared to come close together, where only a thin veil separated the two.
Recently, I've come to realize that all who follow Christ are not called to make pilgrimages to places where the air is thin, but we are called to create spaces where the air is thin, in our own lives, where others see, hear, feel, and know the beauty, majesty, goodness, and holiness of God. I know at first reading this may sound too bold and audacious, but Jesus Himself said that He and the Father would come and make their home in us. He says clearly that They are going to dwell in, or abide in us. Also, Jesus has sent us His Spirit - The Paraclete, The One Who Comes Alongside to be with us. Jesus also promised 'I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.' Our God is a God Who Stays with Us.
The New Testament declares that our souls are Tabernacles of the Holy Spirit, as well as the Abiding Place of the Father and the Son. We also are to be Living Sacrifices, or places of worship, in our everyday lives and interactions with others (Romans 12). Thus, we are intersection points between heaven and earth (NT Wright). If we are now temples and God is in us, then we may allow His glory to radiate from us, as we live with unveiled faces and live lives of worship and sacrifice for Him, creating spaces for others to encounter the Living God.
A friend recently commented, "We are all on a journey toward God." Through this blog I am inviting others to join with me on my journey. I am calling the blog "Into Thin Air," because the Lord has shown me that He wants me to "live where the air is thin" - on that narrow plain between heaven and earth where one knows God is Ever-Present and that He is there and He is Holy. I want to live continuously in this place, this intersection, this place of 'thin air,' and to allow others to experience Him and to know Him through my life. May my life be a place of thin air where others encounter Him.
My prayer and only prayer for this blog is that God would receive ALL the glory and that others would long after Him with greater desire and love, and that His Bride would long for the Spirit to be poured out, to be immersed in His Presence and His Holiness. May "I decrease so that He may increase."
May we all long to grow ever nearer to Him, climbing higher and higher on the plain of His Holiness, until the thin air disappears altogether and we are one with Him. Perhaps Enoch was walking on this plain of thin air, and then he simply vanished as he stepped from this plain into the plain of eternity, in one uninterrupted, continuous walk with God. In that plain, perhaps there is no need for air, for God is All, and He becomes the air we breathe. This is my desire. I want to live where the air is thin.
Prayer:
"May I live where the air is thin - in that narrow plain between heaven and earth, where the air is sweet, fresh, new, and glorious. O Lord, You are my Home, and You pitch Your tent within me, and the Father and Son make their dwelling place in the landscape of my soul. I want to LIVE in this plain. O may I abide here with You each moment of my life! O that I would live continuosly in an awareness of Your Presence within me - that I would live always in the thin air between heaven and earth...heaven within and the earth without... until the day we become one, and You become the very air I breathe! May Your Glory blaze from within me and may all I encounter know something of Your beauty, Your love, and Your holiness. Amen."
Thank you for sharing Katie! This is indeed a beautiful reflection! In reading the 'About Me' portion I was drawn back to backpacking trips in the northwest and remembering the views of a mountaintop sticking up through fields of alpine lupine. Such a beautiful picture that can not be captured with words or camera. But I also wanted to share how fitting I thought it was that you decided to start (or at least share) this blog with us today. Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk70JUT-QAU). He is the patron saint of animals and the environment. So on this day here is his prayer. I hope it is an encouragement to you and others as it is to me.
ReplyDelete"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen"
I just read your post out loud to my boyfriend. We loved it! You might check out Jason Westerfield. www.KingdomReality.com.
ReplyDeleteI long to live in the place where the air in thin!
Heather! Thank you so much!!!! This is a great confirmation to me that I am supposed to do this! I forgot that Oct. 4 was the feast day of St. Francis. He is my favorite saint, for all the reasons you mentioned but also because he was so passionate about and in love with Christ and because he took the gospel to Muslims. I chose him to be my confirmation saint when I was in 8th grade. Thanks for sharing this! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is Amen!
ReplyDelete