Something to Think About: Our Holy Place

Something to Think About: Our Holy Place

Reflections by Chuck Cluff, Atherton resident since 2004

Exodus 3:5
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Most people have in their mind a place where they think of God as being very close. It is a place they had a special spiritual experience, or where they think they would. It is a holy place in their minds. Jerusalem is one of those places for many. If we could know exactly where God met with Moses on the side of the mountain there would be a line a mile long of people wanting to stand at that exact spot. We want to go back to a place where God was amazing to us. We want to recapture those feelings and have a matching experience. It is a bit of a disappointment when it is not the same. (Our expectations often let us down.)

Why not the same? Because the experience was never the location. It was the encounter. It was the meeting, the happening between us and God. It was a moment in time when we and God were in special sync. In these special times everything is elevated to a high level of God awareness and closeness. When there are no words to explain or describe what is happening. When the quality and depth of God’s touch is ineffable.

One’s holy ground is really not a place at all, not a point on the map. It is a holy time. It is a special “now” moment and whenever that is it is holy. It is a pin point happening between the loving creator and one of his created. It is almost a perfect moment of closeness. A holy place can be a car, a room, by a tree, river or lake. It can be in your own house or another’s, at church or in a meeting, on dry land or the sea, in the valley or on a mountain. It is not the place, it is the Presence! It is being overwhelmed and overcome by God. These special holy ground times are not meant to be regular. They are like tastes of what’s to come. They are incentives to keep us expecting, for someday these times will be our regular. Any place at any time holds within it the potential for being one of these amazing God experiences. Please, God, let it be more often.