Grace-full Moments
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Sometimes they just happen: grace-full moments; gifts from something beyond myself. I began to understand grace and experience more grace-full moments once I moved away from the vision of an interceding God and toward a view of the sacred with the divine flowing through and around all of us at all times.
For instance, there was what I now refer to as “Turtle Week.” This was a time when I was feeling overwhelmed and everywhere I went, I kept seeing turtles—an animal of such spiritual significance to me that my friend embroidered one on my clerical stole.
Turtles were on the path I was walking—okay, that was really not terribly unusual. But turtles the size of a basketball crossing a highway—that was a lot more uncommon.
As the week went on, I became more and more anxious: I was trying to pack for a move about which I was both excited and nervous; I was shuttling the kids to activities; I was taking care of a dying pet, a cat I had gotten when I was in college. I was constantly running from this to that, with never a moment of downtime. Never a moment to stop and just be. And these turtles kept appearing! I would notice them, wonder about them for a minute, and then move on.
Until a very large turtle—about a basketball and a half—suddenly appeared in the center of the road as I was driving in the middle of a subdivision where I had never seen a turtle before!
I could have swerved around it, but I suddenly remembered that in my life turtles are reminders to pause, to take a break in all the craziness. And so I stopped right there in the middle of the road.
I got out of the car and stopped traffic for a few minutes as the turtle crossed safely to the other side and crawled into the grass. As I watched the creature wander off, I realized that turtles are also reminders that wherever I go, I take my home with me—a reminder that all will be well.
When I got back in the car, I felt better: less stressed, less overwhelmed. And more connected to the spirit of life and love, the mystery and wonder of the universe. I had experienced what I now understand as a grace-full moment.
- Grace-full Moments - June 1, 2015
