Recently, I took a short cruise as an experiment. Having never been on one before, I was super excited. At that time, we were having major renovations done to our house and besides, a guest speaker was taking my place that Sunday. I thought, “I’m going to do something fun.”
It was an incredible time with the clean cabin, great food, and vastness of the ocean.
But, back to my main story. I had signed up for a half day’s event at Cozumel to see Mayan Ruins. There were possibly 12-18 of us on this little trek. As we arrived at the park, I noticed another older woman who appeared to be alone. We began walking the difficult trail with uneven rocks and she began to falter and looked panicked and fatigued. I suggested that we sit while the guide was pointing out features along the way, and it became clear that she would not be able to make the trek. Although I was interested in seeing the Mayan Ruins, it was clear to me that my role that day was to accompany this sweet lady back to the entry of the park. We waved the others onward, and slowly walked back, seated ourselves at a little round table and drank fresh bottles of lemonade. We exchanged names and where we lived, talked, and laughed and had a lovely time. It came to me that this is Divine Grace, right here, right now. In our ordinary lives, grace extends a helping, loving hand and says, “Let us do this together.”
In her wildly successful book titled Daring Greatly,[i] Brené Brown shares a time in graduate school that made a lasting impression upon her. A professor had asked Brené to come to her office to go over an assignment. Brené felt intimidated and fearful of being criticized or ridiculed for her work, but instead the professor pulled up a chair beside her and offered helpful feedback. Rather than a judge, the professor turned out to be an ally.
As I recall so many circumstances in my own life when the other person could have been an ally or friend but instead chose to be haughty and critical, it occurs to me how much easier life could be if we would remember we are all in this together.
In this precious life that we’ve been given, how wonderful to be able to walk along with someone in their discomfort. What an honor it is when a friend is suffering from loss and they call and say, “Would you pray with me?” What a privilege to extend grace to another when so much grace has been extended to each of us.
Thank you, Divine Beloved, for empowering me with the capacity to extend Your Love and kindness to others. May I sit with another in their time of pain and suffering; and offer sweetly amazing grace. I’m sure the Mayan Ruins were quite the experience, but absolutely nothing to compare to the experience of grace swelling up in my heart. Be well and extend grace in all you do. Lovingly, JV
[i] Daring Greatly, Brene Brown