Somedays I do not want to get out of bed.
The fire station on the corner let their sirens blare 15 minutes before my alarm. I think of the to-do list for the day ahead, and getting up just doesn’t sound like fun.
Then I think of coffee. I will not be able to have coffee unless I get up. I wish coffee would just appear without me having to get up and earn it. My husband has already left for work; the chances of unbidden coffee are low. If unbidden coffee were to appear, it would be a grace: a gift, undeserved. I would have done nothing to receive such an act of love and kindness.
I stretch in bed, chuckling to myself as I think of grace as a cup of coffee, but isn’t it? Do I think of grace just as huge moments of redemption and God showing up in some huge way? Isn’t grace in the small moments too?
I have a friend who uses social media sparingly and in a positive manner. One of the main ways he uses it is to share what he calls, “Grace Moments.” Each day, he posts four pictures from his day. It might be a visit with friends, the sunrise or set, or the latest flower blooming in his garden. And, yes, sometimes the picture is even coffee. My friend types, “Grace Moments,” on the post with no descriptions and no explanations. His small offering reminds me that grace abounds. I simply need to be taught how to see.
I think again of that fire siren. It was not for me and for my house. I pray for the firefighters and those in the midst of emergency for whom the firefighters are off to intervene.
I think of my list for the day ahead and all the Grace Moments from yesterday. I will have such moments today in good work, in conversations with loved ones, and in God’s creation around me—if I truly see.
The Gospel of John tells us, “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory…full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (1:14,16) I can’t imagine a life without Jesus. I don’t want to. I know when I abide in him, I am able to see his grace in the world so much more clearly.
Blessed Fulton Sheen said God, “loves us, not because of the way we are, but because of what we can be through His grace.” (The Greatest Commandment) I don’t want to be a person who rejects that grace. I want to accept it. I want to live abundantly in his glorious grace.
So I get out of bed to start the coffee, and I will be grateful for it. It’s not much, but I am learning to see.
