Gratitude

When I came up with the name for this blog, Grace Traces, underneath that were two formational and foundational ideas within me.  First, I do believe the world is infused and immersed with God. We swim in a sea of the sacred.  This, by the way, is also the first truth we celebrate every year at Christmas ~ God with us and us with God.  God for us and us open to God.  It is a two way street we travel in our lives.  But in the blurriness and busyness we miss the traces of the transformative power of God moving in our midst.  How many of us wake up in the morning already feeling like we are behind or running late?  How many of us on vacation still check our emails?  How many of us spend our children's band/choir concerts staring at the event through a screen rather than simply experiencing that precious, fragile, fleeting moment?   That hand you see in the air is mine. 

That leads me to the second formational and foundational idea...I believe that church should help us practice noticing the presence of the holy.  We practice seeing the holy, the embodied Christ, in each other.  We practice seeing the holy, swirling Spirit in creation.  We practice seeing the very nature of God in every moment.  But wait...your rational, reasonable mind might want to argue...I was just visiting a friend with cancer in the hospital and it doesn't look good, God in that moment?  But wait... your mind is now arguing...I have to go to that family member's house for Thanksgiving.  You know that person who is always coming up with new material to frustrate you.  God in that moment? 

Yes.

But, trying to find God in the difficult is like trying to love your enemies...it takes practice. Most of us start with trying to find God in the stress and strain, in the valley moments ~ when a friend is sick and dying...when our job is on the line...when our messiness of life spirals out of control.  But that is akin to trying to go out and run a marathon the very first time.  It would be like trying to paint a masterpiece the first time you pick up a brush.  Life doesn't work that way...why should our faith. 

Part of my prayerful intention is to practice noticing the traces of God's grace in my life...which brings me to the photo above.  That butterfly greeted me last Monday afternoon when I pulled in the parking lot of the church.  And it actually waiting around while I fumbled for my camera and got a good picture.  It had been a particularly long weekend with a funeral and then All Saints Day, naming people whose love had made a difference and now were in God's embrace.  I was a bit tired, weak and worn.  And then, this butterfly poses for me.  That is a trace of God's grace in my life.  That slowed me down a bit.  Now, please don't hear me suggest that suddenly everything in life was chocolate rivers and pony rides.  It was not.  But moments like this do help me refocus and reframe and remind me of the practice that leads me to life...true life...life where there is more than a trace of God's grace...for every moment is infused with the holy.

Grace and peace ~~