SURPRISED BY GRACE

I'd like to say I'm learning something here with my mother's recent extended hospital stay, but it's far too premature to claim that. I can say that I'm noticing something, and maybe in time this noticing will turn into trust so that I can then claim to have learned it. Here's what I've been watching.

During this hideous roller coaster for the past month, I've been surprised and disappointed when a need arose and the person I expected to meet that need wasn't available. Key players. Doctors. Pastors. Others.  Some for totally understandable reasons. Some remain a mystery still. And then there are the nurses. As in any profession, some nurses love what they do, and we recognize them at once. Then there are those who are just doing a job, and we know them too.  It has been uncanny to watch at every turn that every genuine need we have had has been skillfully met when we needed it. Even if by a stranger. Even if not on our schedule. When we needed answers, attention, kindness, or much more, help showed up. 

Bottom line: I may not get what I want when I want it from whom I want it in the way I want it. I can still ask until I feel heard and trust that help is coming. If I keep my heart and my eyes open to new possibilities, I might recognize it when it comes. For me, its name will always be Grace.