One of my favorite places to recharge is the beach. More, it is a walk on the beach. Even more, it is a walk in the space between the ocean reaching out to the beach and the dry, hard sand of the beach. It is a thin space.
My pastor calls the space between heaven and earth that occurs through worship a ” thin place. Worship is where we lift up and touch these thin spaces with the divine as he reaches down. It is the space between two worlds; a space between two realms—a thin space.
I love my walks on the beach, and I encounter another thin space. One might describe it as the space between wet and dry, between ocean and land, but I would call it a thin space between two realms. A thin space where the power of the creator reaches out from the depths of the ocean to touch the dry beach of his creation. His creation displays his might and majesty.
In the parable of the prodigal son, when the father sees the son, who squandered his father’s inheritance, return, he runs to the son. Like the prodigal son, God the Father reaches out to me as I walk the sand of the beach. As with the prodigal son, the question is: Do I return to him? As the prodigal son chose to return, he received his father’s embrace. So, when I walk this thin space, I feel His connection and the embrace of His power between the two worlds: between wet and dry, sea and land, heaven and earth.
It is within this thin space that I feel the transfer of the energy of that embrace. I also see the influence of his connection. It is called dilatancy: the phenomenon of walking on the thin space of wet beach sand, pushing the water out under the pressure of the step, and leaving it dry under your feet.
Dilatancy reveals his influence on my walk. I walk into that thin space of power transfer when the water washes over my feet. It is only within that power that I see his influence reach out from the steps I take in life. His energy transfer sustains me as I step through this journey called life. His power flows over me by the reaching waves, through me as I step, and reaches out to impact my surroundings. The water displacement through the space in between the sand is his influence and power flowing over, through, and out from me as I journey. But, only when I walk in that thin space. Dilatancy is his influence and reach when I am under his influence in the thin space. Science is the evidence and glory of his majesty.
Life would be so easy if I chose to walk daily in his thin space. I have the blessing of living near a beach. I could walk there daily, receive His power washing over me, feel His influence, and watch His influence from my steps.
Why don’t I? Why don’t we?
When we walk in His power, we walk in His influence. The sand is soft, his presence and influence are evident, and His influence from our steps pushes out with each step. Yet, it is only within this thin space on the beach that I see how His thin space affects my influence; not because of me, but because of His power transferred to me through the meeting in the thin space.
When we walk out of the thin space, His thin space, we walk out of His power. The sand is coarse, hard, and yes, painful. Our influence as we step is static. We have lost His energy transfer through us and His influence in our steps. Yet, the ocean still reaches out. Even as we walk alone in the coarse, hard, and painful sand of life, our creator still reaches out to soften our steps by transferring His energy to us and to broaden our influence by pushing the obstacles of life away with His power.
As my pastor said, we feel His presence in the thin spaces of worship. We are recharged and empowered to expand our influence because of His reach into the thin spaces of the two realms. Creation represents the majesty of the creator. When we walk in His creation, we walk in another thin space. It is not the creation that is the source of the power and influence. His creation is the representation of His majesty, the reminder that He is the creator, and is the vector of that energy transfer.
Life is a journey. The creator is always reaching out. The question is, where are we? Are we walking in the representation of His Majesty? Are we walking within his reach and in his influence? Are we walking in the thin space in the steps between two worlds?
