Gratitude

I tend to write these posts early...then through the magic of the internet...am able to schedule these words to appear when I tell them too. 

So, on the day this post is released I will be driving back after a three day retreat in South Carolina... a new state to me.  The retreat is about facing the changes of life with integrity and authenticity.  I love those two words.  Integrity means a state of being whole.  Authenticity reminds me that while I can't completely control everything, I can control the way I respond.  There is an authorship to my life even if the plot line is shaped by forces outside my own.  Because what people say and do impacts the plot line of my life.  Because events and experiences impact the plot line of my life.  Because when the phone rings...or I have to make a difficult decision...or something doesn't quite follow the map I had in mind...all that and a million tiny moments all make a difference in the plot line of my life.

Trying to live with a wholeness and openness and knowing what I can author and what is being written outside of me...that is a good definition of life.  And I need spaces and places where I can set outside of the ordinary and everyday.  I once heard this called, "Getting to the balcony," where I can see a different perspective and a wider picture than the blurriness of life lived up-close and at a frenzied pace. 

For me the more I can notice and name the traces of God's grace in my daily life...the more life becomes grace-filled.  The more I see a butterfly landing nearby and smile...the more gratitude grows within me.  It is a cycle or ever widening circle.  It is an awareness of holiness.  I know it is a luxury to be able to get away for a few days...one that not everyone has.  But even so, the point is not the retreat...the point is practicing the kind of space and place in daily living.  Retreats are not meant as spiritual filling stations so much as reminders of what I am supposed to be doing every day.  It is like hitting the re-set button in my life or upgrading the operating system to fix the bugs that have crept into my daily life.  I pray that today you might find the space and place to retreat, reframe and refocus your life on God's presence...even if it is just for five minutes.  And may there be more than a trace of God's grace as you drink deeply and dwell in the holy of this day God has made.

Grace and peace ~~~