Grace Descending
One morning this week, I found myself driving through one of those desolate areas that seem to squat in the heart of most inner-cities. It was a pewter-grey day, with lowering clouds in a heavy sky. I was on my way to my accountant’s office, feeling a vague dread about my taxes.
Outside my car window, the street blurred by. Shattered glass on broken asphalt. Used condoms, empty plastic bags, wax paper wrappers blown against the curb by a cold wind.
Discarded syringes. Hookers so young they should have been in grade school, shivering in tiny skirts and bare legs.
My heart felt crushed beneath a familiar, unbearable weight. Holding back tears, I rounded the corner.
And there, on a bright yellow curb through whose cracks weeds flourished, this graffiti, in bold black paint:
PEACE BE WITH YOU
In that moment, everything changed.
The startling radiance of Grace, descending.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Share your story of a radiant moment? I’d love to hear . . .
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Not too long ago, we got the news that my husband was being laid off. We had already arranged a sitter for our kids that night, as we were planning a date. We went ahead with it, as the event was a booksigning by one of our favorite authors. However, we were feeling worried about money, as you can imagine, so we didn’t buy a copy of the book, and we went to a little coffee place and shared a dessert rather than to the nice restaurant we originally planned. I was even thinking about what we would have to pay for parking!
It was a rainy night. As we left the cafe and walked to the parking garage, I noticed something white shining on the pavement. It was a sheet of parking validation stickers, unused, with one more sticker than we needed to cover our parking cost.
It was such a little thing, but I felt instantly comforted, seeing this as a reminder from Spirit that, no matter what happens, we are being taken care of. While my husband still has not found a new job, we have both been able to see this as an opportunity for him to market his own business, and we have (mostly) been able to remain positive, ever since that sweet reminder of Grace.
Anna-Liza´s last blog post..Pollyanna Hugs Her Mama
Twitter: HiroBoga
Anna Liza, what a wonderful story! :-) Thank you for sharing it. I trust that you and your husband will have everything you need to help you truly flourish. May Grace enfold you.
Hiro Boga´s last blog post..Grace Descending
Twitter: rebecca_leigh
One late afternoon I was walking home from my (no longer!) office job.
I was walking to the train station and it was getting dark so everything was muted and dull. I was watching my feet on the pavement and feeling quite alone in the city of people rushing by.
In a moment, I was swept with an incredible sensation. It was an awareness of all that was alive around me, like when you are looking at the ground and see nothing and the next moment you see ants and worms and the moving grass.
In that moment, walking down the pavement, I felt the soil beneath the bricks and every leaf moving in the trees and even the metal fence palings were humming. I *knew*, suddenly, that no matter how many people I did or did not know, I was never alone. Because I was connected to everyone right then and there, through the air and through living, we were as one. It was though I existed everywhere at once. I was so happy I wanted to cry.
The feeling lasted quite a few delicious minutes. And the memory of it has stayed with me, so that I feel a lightness in my heart thinking about it now.
Rebecca Leigh´s last blog post..What they don’t teach you at school: learning how to learn in business
Twitter: HiroBoga
Oh, Rebecca, thank you for sharing your amazing experience of knowing your connection with all of creation right in your bones! Your story is so powerful, I could feel it right along with you.
Lovely how the memory of these moments of radiance lingers in our hearts to remind us when we most need the reminder.
Hiro Boga´s last blog post..Grace Descending
Many radiant moments drift through my mind as I sit with your invitation. In honor of mother’s day, I offer this poem about the moment of my mother’s death:
Migration
I
Cranes, swans, geese, ducks lift off
Hundreds, thousands
Simultaneously
Splashing out of water
Jumping off land
Skyward
Swirling currents of change
Swarming silhouettes peppering
The sunbaked evening sky.
Beating wings
upon wings,
upon wings.
Cacophony of calls
upon calls,
upon calls
Signaling
time, time to go
Lifting, leaving,
One, and then another,
up
onward
beyond.
II
And then another . . .
Little breath left to call, her gaze
holds steady on the flyway.
Grasping and releasing life,
Hands, arms, soul rise upward,
Fingers spread
curl,
clutch
the unknown.
Whispering permissions to take off,
I’m left holding the plastic mask over her mouth.
Ninety-eight percent oxygen saturated air
With no way in.
Milky, faded eyes
roll,
up,
and back.
Consciousness
fades
away,
spent.
She pulls for breath in vain—
Gaping, empty efforts,
Lift off.
Her arms, hands, fingers
Fall, limp on white sheets, as
hollow-boned
wings,
take flight.
III
Flat-footed,
I cry in the paddy fields,
Buffeted
By uncatchable currents.
Kate Williams´s last blog post..Stepping Back From the Urgency Ledge
Twitter: HiroBoga
Kate, your poem–the power, beauty, precision and poignancy of it–leaves me breathless. Startling radiance indeed. Such a tender gift, this poem. Thank you from my deepest heart for sharing it.
Hiro Boga´s last blog post..Grace Descending