Big and Small Gifts of Grace
What a difference a week can make.
When I sat down to write last Sunday, we were just beginning to feel the grip of COVID-19 tighten around us. Schools were closing and students moving to distance learning. We were getting a little concerned how we were going to wipe our bums, and we’d seemingly forgotten that we have running tap water that we can actually...wait for it....drink. Throughout the week, we saw restaurants, favorite stores, and even public outdoor spaces close. We heard press conferences with experts prognosticating, predicting, and pleading with the public to protect the most vulnerable amongst us by staying home and practicing social distancing when we have to be out of the house.
My “book” club, just nine short months into Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, canceled our monthly meeting this week, but we decided to meet via Zoom instead. Same with my Adventure Sisters instead of hiking together this weekend. You realize when you see on-screen the faces of those people you love how much you miss being able to give hugs all around and just be together without the constraints of the day.
And now, seven days into the “15 days to flatten the curve,” we find ourselves living in a big question mark. We cannot control the situation around us, only do our part to keep ourselves and others well. It is a global exercise in living out Step One – “admitted I was powerless.”
We can struggle against it, like a toddler being strapped into a car seat. That won’t change a thing. Or we can be with life on life’s terms and allow this moment in time to be our teacher.
I am in no way minimizing the loss of life due to coronavirus or the profound impact on countless individuals, businesses, and the economy in general. The fear, the pain, the uncertainty, the loss – it’s all very real. This is an opportunity to be human together, which means we get to rise to the challenge of demonstrating compassion, generosity, and love in ways we’ve never imagined.
One thing I have learned in the past 15 months is that when the worst happens, a primary path to maintaining sanity and even serenity is to be grateful for every small and large gift of grace.
Today’s gifts of grace:
Chip made me an easy-over-do (as Charli used to say when she was little) egg and bacon to enjoy while we “attended” an online church service with Father John Taylor. Not gonna lie. I like going to church in my pajamas.
Chip and I went for a walk. Afterward, I grabbed my earphones and commenced my walk solo while listening to my free audiobook Where the Crawdads Sing (the Libby app is the best discovery ever for FREE audio and e-books!). My walk quickly morphed into a hike when I made an intentional turn onto a trail taking me through nature rather than through neighborhoods. The glistening lake with its turtle inhabitants sunning on the rocks, the rolling green hills, the leaves of every size and shape, and the bright yellow daisies all spoke to me of God’s boundless generosity and creativity. This is quite a magnificent home he made for us.
In the middle of my walk, I switched off my audiobook and took a break to sit in silence on a white glistening rock overlooking an arroyo. This is what my soul loves. “In quietness and trust shall be your strength...” (Isaiah 30:15).
I ran into a few people I know during my hike, including a family from Mission Hills Christian School. We were going opposite directions on the looped trail, having started from different locations. I asked them if I would eventually come out where I started (I tend to get lost a lot). They assured me I would and gave me basic directions, “You will veer to the right after you get to Robinson Ranch.” Later, we met again as they were finishing their hike and I was nearing the point where I would need to “veer to the right.” My confusion lay in the fact that there were two routes that, in my directionally challenged mind, could have been construed as “right.” I started up the one I thought would lead me home. My friends yelled from a distance while motioning, “You have to go to the right!” Did I really want them to think I was that directionally challenged? I yelled back, “Yeah, I’m just stretching!” – and with that, I proceeded to put my left foot up on the curb, performing quite a vigorous, over-dramatic calf stretch. Then I headed down the correct “right” path which took me back home. Had I not run into my friends, there is a good chance I would still be lost somewhere in Robinson Ranch.
Tonight was simply the best – family dinner with all of us...almost all of us...together. Posole, beans, enchiladas, guacamole, and chile verde stew followed by a rousing game of Exploding Kittens. And, of course, we had to watch YouTube videos of the fainting goats and the dog that growls at his own foot before ending the evening with benedictory hugs and “I love yous.”
As we look toward the week ahead, I pray you and your loved ones will experience moments of laughter and pure joy and that your hearts will be kept in a spirit of peace that passes understanding. May we all be good humans to one another and keep our eyes open for the big and small graces for which to be grateful.
