The Graces Will Come

This week I’ve been made acutely aware (again) of how just one moment can alter so much so fast. Sometimes it’s for the better, sometimes it's for the worse, and maybe sometimes it’s just transformational. 

 

This past weekend my family encountered such a moment of change, the bad kind. My husband, an elite runner, endured a traumatic injury that will keep him away from his passion for a while. We’re not sure what kind of comeback he might make; we only know it is our aim that he does. And, in the midst of it all, words of St. Paul come to mind… about how our struggles can reveal something glorious in time. The Graces will come.

 

And what is Grace to me? Grace is the good that escapes from the bad. I don’t believe God orchestrates our lives to give us hardships for some greater purpose; that’s never resonated with my image of love. Instead I find God at work in the profound responses to our suffering. And like a compassionate midwife at a complicated labor, God shows up to help us birth some meaning from it all. We get the privilege to determine what that meaning can be. I know my husband will find his way through this dark chapter, and I look forward to seeing what he claims and reclaims along the way.

 

Yes, good can show up as some kind of answer to, or byproduct of, suffering. It doesn’t make the bad worth going through, but it at least gives us something to hold on to while we make our way to the light again. May you be inspired!

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