The Speed of Grace
by Sharon Ray
Lao Tzu wrote, “For the one who is always busy, there is no hope.”
How busy I am, running around doing, doing—my body hurts!
Ah, but it’s close to 7 p.m. on a summer’s eve here at Sunburst, and I am in Grace.
I’ve showered and taken my dinner out onto the porch. The light is golden all around and I notice a cricket is singing a lovely note. It’s otherwise so quiet. Sitting on my chair I look to the lavender bush and see the many, many honey bees still collecting nectar; their lives matter. I hear another sound; it’s the cows munching on grass; they matter too. How nice to sit still long enough to get out of my own world and see Life happening around me—other lives, lives I share my world with.
In this quiet I notice that the cricket stops. He takes a breath. He sings again, and stops to take another rest. When he pauses, I pause too, spoon in mid air. I am still…like him.
And there is hope for me… yes, because blessedness is here, and I have slowed down to the speed of Grace.
