Life is Grace

 

Fathomless Mystery

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.”

Frederick Buechner

          American author and theologian, Frederick Buechner (pronounced “Beek”ner) wrote: “The grace of God means something like: Here is your life.” In his many books, he wrote extensively about the holy moments of ordinary life—how extraordinary it is simply to be alive. He tried to get across to us that life itself is holy and should be cause for gratitude every minute of every day, no matter what is happening. Every breath we take is grace-filled. Now, with more than 300,000 Americans, and over 1,600,000 globally, dead from Covid-19, this has never been truer. If you are healthy right now, gratitude for life should be your mantra.

          I stood in line at the Post Office Thursday, along with about ten other socially distanced, mask wearing people. In walked a youngish man not wearing a mask. He went to the rack holding shipping supplies, as people scattered to keep the six-foot distance. He rifled through the packaging materials, ignoring the people he had displaced until one man in line asked him if he had a mask. He said no, so the man asked him to please go outside, because masks are mandated in Alabama. He huffed and puffed and left only to come back a few minutes later with a bandana around his face, which, as soon as he collected his supplies and went to a worktable, he pulled off. This scenario plays out in thousands of locations every single day in the US; the reason given: “I have my rights” and “God takes care of me.” My message to this young man is: God gave you that life, and everyone else in here, too, and God expects you to cherish and protect all of our lives.”

          Life itself is precious—your life, and mine, and the lives of every other living being. It truly is only a minor inconvenience for us to wear a mask, and we do not have a God-given, or even constitution-given right to ignore the health and safety of others. We can be an instrument of God’s grace in this situation if we choose. We can appreciate and protect the “fathomless mystery” that is life.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane