This year, I have been waking up around 6:00 to get to work by 7:30 each day. This is more than enough time to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and have my coffee (boy, do i love coffee). I usually get in the car by 7:00 and drive to work. The funny thing is, my work if only about 5 minutes away.
After the first week of working this year, I realized that I did not need to be getting up quite so early, because I almost always have a half an hour to spare. But, during the week, to fill up that time, I found something that has quickly become the most special part of my day.
That first morning, full of extra time, I drove back to the old neighborhood where I grew up and went to one of my favorite places: The Fire Dock. I don't think that most Holland residents even know this place exists. But, over on Lake Macatawa, right before it forms into Pine Creek Bay, and right down the street from the adorable "Central Park Grocery Store", sits the old Fire Dock. It used to be a place where Holland City fire trucks would come to fill up their tanks with water. But now it is a public dock with two little benches. It is nestled in between two houses and at the end of a tiny dead-end road, so it feels like a secret. In reality, I am sure that many more people than I think are well acquainted with the Fire Dock, but I like to think of it as my little secret.
When I get there, around 7:10, the sun is just beginning to rise. The world around me is dark and the air is thick. It seems like it has been cold forever here in Michigan, but during this 20 minutes of my day, I do not mind the cold. As the sun rises, I see the world around me splash into color -deep pinks and purples and oranges. Everything feels excited, on fire, alive. It is in this moment when I am overwhelmed with God's splendor and glory and goodness. I see his creativity and decide that his favorite color must be pink, because everything looks so beautiful with this pink tint, and thank him for his creativity. I feel the worries of my upcoming day or week drift away in this moment and soak in all that this place, this sunrise, this God have for me.
In Shauna Niequist's book Bittersweet, one of my absolute favorites, is where I learned about the concept of "thin places".Thin places are a Celtic idea that suggest that there are certain places in this world where the distance between Heaven and Earth, between God and His people, are thinner. In these places, we feel God and the presence of his Holy Spirit much stronger and more vividly. I absolutely think that mornings, particularly early mornings when the sun is rising at my little secret place, I am closer to my creator.
I am so thankful for this and for what I have discovered this year in my special place.
Here is a photo I took one particularly amazing morning:
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