A "Thin Place" moment

Good morning early Saturday, and by early yes, I do mean 5:11am.  I think there’s something completely wrong with me that I would wake up before the sun on a morning that I have permission to sleep to my heart’s desires.  As soon as I woke up this morning, and before I had actually opened my eyes, this story kept playing over and over in my head.  Hopefully purging all of it out here will help me achieve a successful 7 hour minimum night sleep tomorrow. 

I traveled to Ikea this week to purchase some new items for the office; we’re going through a small remodel and renovation, and we need to “freshen” things up.  In between meetings and interviews, I rushed to the big yellow and blue store in search of finding new matching coffee mugs and “modern” heavy duty flatware for the office.  I think I am the only one at my office who’s bothered by the fact that I have to offer my client a cup of joe in a Mickey Mouse mug, window vendor freebie mug, or slightly chipped 1980 coffee mug that no one wanted at the White Elephant Christmas exchange.  I mean, c’mon, we’re an architecture firm – these things matter, trust me they do.  My instructions were simple, find these items, make sure they look nice and expensive but purchase them cheap.  Sure, no problem….I’m a great shopper, and I’m great at buying “expensive” looking things for low prices.  I found these really great delft blue mugs, with a honed ceramic finish outside and a glossy ivory inside.   Perfect for the office, they looked “architecy” and I refuse to drink out of dark colored coffee mugs, whoever knows if those are really clean?  Bonus: they were $2.99 each.  I also some found some great modern looking flatware that had a nice heavy hand – they looked like expensive Alessi pieces, but for only $39.99 for a set of 4 they were mine! 

I loaded up my car and headed back to the office, seemingly in la-la land for a Thursday afternoon.  I was stopped by the redlight on the feeder road and something caught my attention…a cat…on a leash.  I looked once and then a second time to make sure my eyes had not fooled me.  There stood a homeless man with a cat on a leash, a grocery cart padded with soiled blankets and coats, another cat and a dog inside of the grocery cart, and two more large dogs on leashes soaking up the sun on the pavement.  I didn’t really think too much of it at the time other than how that cat really did not like being on the leash.  The man was not begging for money or food, he didn’t have any signs that requested a job or help – most of the cars around me seemed to be ignoring him, checking their mobile devices or sitting patiently at the red light, and that was fine as he wasn’t requesting any attention.  Yet I noticed him, not by my own will, I originally just started watching wondering what was going on with all of the animals, but then I was blessed to witness, as my Pastor would say, a “thin place.”  Thin places could be thought of as moments in life where Heaven and Earth as close together, moments when God is revealed in the everyday.

I watched the fully tattooed, tattered clothes man pull a bowl out of his cart, set it down and proceed to fill the bowl with bottled water.  (Sidebar: I know what some may be thinking, I thought it too, how can this man provide for these animals, yet he can’t even provide for himself?  I’m not sure the answer to that, but I think too often we are quick to ask those questions.  It doesn’t make us bad people; it makes us informed people, right?  Sometimes I think if we were less inclined to be informed, we’d happen upon some everyday miracles.)  He guided the two large leased dogs over to the water with a loving hand.  He then took the cat and the dog in the cart and gently put them down next to the water bowl.  Then he softly called the leashed cat, which was meowing with thirst, over to the water bowl.  He never looked up; he never seemed to wonder if anyone was watching, except that I was.  After he watered the animals, he went to his cart and fluffed and neatly folded the blankets and coats.  He “organized” the cart from the disarray the animals had caused.  Then he knelt down near the animals and pet them with such a gentleness, with such care and love.  It was obvious he truly loved the animals and they loved him too.  Tears of humility started trickling down my face.  In that moment I witnessed the gentle loving spirit of a human, not a “homeless man”, not some “rich fancy client”….just a human.  I felt sad for our society, for the labels we give ourselves and the boxes we like to fit in.  I felt privileged to witness such compassion and love.  I felt silly for caring about those matching coffee mugs while moments like this happen under my nose daily.  Possibly if I would take in these moments and pause to see some “thin places” my matching coffee mug moments wouldn’t seem like such a big deal.  I often think about how many people are unhappy because they want to look expensive but they feel cheap, yet this man had little and was seemingly very content.  I think about how everyone likes to appear they don’t care about fitting in, yet all we crave is a seal of approval from others….this man never looked up for approval, he never did hat tricks to get my attention for money, he was just human.   This "homeless man” was a great picture of parts of ourselves that we never want revealed; we are vulnerable, we are broke, we are poor, we are worn out, but don’t dare show it.  In this “thin place” moment I felt I was privileged to be reminded that every human needs one simple thing: love.  Perhaps if each one of us could not just happen upon “thin place” moments but expect them and respect them, we’d see glimpses of the world the way God does?