I've just returned from a  trip to Europe. While there I visited the island of Iona - a place that is sacred to the heart of the celtic christian. It is what some have called a "thin place." A "thin place" is a place that seems so holy that the distinction between heaven and earth is so thin that it can barely be felt. Iona is one of those places.

I was blessed to have worked on Iona for a summer a few years ago, and this was my first time back. I was curious as to how it would feel. Would it have the same impact as before? Would my memories overshadow this experience of another visit? Would new experiences with a friend (who had also worked there) simply add to my love of the place?

What I felt was normalcy. That's right, I travelled for hours and hours in search of this place of respite and memories, a place that had challenged me, but also gave me the greatest peace of my life. And now, it just feels normal. And that is great!

I discovered that what to many is a thin place had become a thin space to me - a space in my own life where I allowed the Spirit to enter into my being and take up residence.  I do not hold Iona as a paragon, a place to be honored, an island in the distance geographically and chronologically.

Iona takes up space in my central being. It exists beyond the place of that little island, and into the everyday of my life. Don't get me wrong, going there was stunning and life changing. But the most life changing thing about it was that my first experience there taught me how to find that thin space within myself, that place where heaven and earth touch, and so when I returned I met only myself and my God - and I was content.

Thin places and thin spaces - they don't have to be far away distant islands. They can begin with moments in the arms of lovers, shared memories of evenings with friends, moments in worship when you feel peace. But they continue on as thin spaces when we allow them to pierce our soul and recognize God and ourselves in them.

What are your thin places or spaces?