Catching Grace

I’m working on it – trying hard to recognize the fleeting moments, the glimmers sprinkled in hectic, trying days, the flashes of time that bring a smile.  They’re always there, often veiled just beyond the wispy translucence of a busy morning or the heavy curtain of overwhelming stress, sorrow, concern, responsibility, illness and decay.

Grace, as defined by me:  a feeling of peace, tranquility; a flash that lifts your heart and makes the heaviness temporarily disappear.  Look for it.  Listen for it. Search for it.  It often doesn’t last long and it’s easy to miss.  It’s in your car, beneath the din of outside traffic.   A song comes on the oldies radio station and transports you back to 1968, when life was nothing but full speed ahead hopes and dreams.  Me and Bobby McGee.  It makes you smile and forget about 2012 for 4 minutes and 36 seconds.  Or…you’re alone in the house.  No one is calling to you, demanding anything of you.  You pet the dog and that’s all there is to do in that infinitesimal slice of time.  At a local shopping mall, you find a $229 sweater in your size, marked down 5 times.  The top label of a thick collection of layered price stickers reads $23.17.  You look up, notice the sign above the rack.  Take an additional 40% off.  Moments of grace, varied and true.

I wish that I knew the proper method of meditation.   I have tried, but I find it impossible to concentrate on nothing.  Yet I continue to attempt this exercise anyway.  Sitting still, eyes closed, hands outstretched, palms up.  Breath in, breathe out.  Concentrate on your finger, the middle one.  Feel the pulse, feel the heat.  Bring the peace, the grace to yourself when you need it most.

Hail Mary, full of grace.