The full-life is full of graces. If only I sought to see these graces amidst the hardest moments. Why am I in the habit of reducing the beauty around me to less than has been created for me to see? I am blind.
Ann Voskamp asks, "Why do I reduce the Greatest to the lesser instead of seeing the lesser, this mess, as reflecting the Greatest?" So here I am thoughtfully assessing my circumstance by way of a muddy mind, this mind that is focused on self and time. There is something missing in my life when I do not recognize the graces of then and now and to come. Mother as she played animals with us around the table, Dad's kindness to the nurses despite it all, a friend who's company calmed the shiver out of Chicago's rain, a roommate who sang worship in the shower, husband's laughter that ignites mine in the final moments before sleep, taps of a foot to a bright song, flowering weeds, as well as, tulip bulbs that signal spring, the gathering of faces to the farmer's market come June, birthdays, children, old age, eternity...In this moment of thankfulness I come alive. Grace has found me just as I am.