Moments of Grace

One of the points of this blog is that it is a spiritual/prayerful exercise in noticing God's grace.  Where we live, school is in full swing and session.  Our son just began high school and is in the marching band ~ they celebrate the Scottish ancestors who settled in this area.  They do this by wearing kilts.  In Florida.  Where it is still full on summer temperatures.  Let's just say that the smell of wet wool in Florida is not an odor you will ever forget.

But I digress.

The fun part of this is watching our son have a great time, hanging out with friends, working hard at something he finds meaningful. 
The graceful part of this is that both my wife and I were in marching bands when we were in high school. 
The heartwarming part was having my son come up to me...during the game...and pose to have a picture taken with me! 

Usually, Friday nights are down time for me after the work week.  Our family enjoys pizza and ice cream and catching up.  Now, for the next six or seven weeks, the routine is changed as we race/run off to get to the game ~ all while trying to figure out to put on a kilt.  Good times.

Yet, it is good times.  I have great memories of the band ~ that is where the vast majority of my memories of high school come from.  It was an extended family.  So, in some ways, it isn't so much that the routine is changed...it is that we have extended and expanded our family.  Thankfully, we are not serving all of my pizza and ice cream.

Sometimes when changes happen in our life, we can bemoan the down sides and miss the traces of grace God offers.  Sometimes when changes happen in our life, we can get stuck in our inconvenience ~ which is real and needs to be named.  But when we stay stuck there, it can cause us to miss or be blinded to the sacred moving in our midst.

What changes are unfolding in your life as we enter September?
Are you welcoming or resisting?
Is there anything that at all that is helpful or hopeful about that change?

As those questions sit and simmer in your soul...may there be a trace of God's grace guiding you and sustaining you in these shifting September days.

Blessings ~~