As the Christmas Octave draws to a close, we wanted to offer you all a little “gift” — a beautiful poem written by one of our long-time retreatants. We hope that reading Shannon’s reflections about her time on retreat here will draw you to make your own heart a special place of encounter with the living God, a place where the veil between heaven and earth wears thin!

A Thin Place

By Shannon Truss, 2021

I drive through the gates
And feel my soul exhale.
Memories float in the very air
Reminding me of retreats past.
This place is a thin place
Where the barrier to heaven is threadbare.

Even in my sleep
I find that prayer comes easily,
My voice joining those who have gone before.
The ground I walk
The trails I tread
Are saturated with prayers
In this thin place
Where the barrier to heaven is threadbare.

In the beautiful chapel,
With a river of holy water running through,
I am washed clean
By harmonies and melodies.
And I wonder:
Is this a thin place
Because the prayers have worn away
The things that keep heaven afar?
Hope catches my heart.
Can my own prayers wear away
The things that make me less like Jesus?

May my soul be a thin place
Where the barrier to heaven is threadbare.