Where's Grace?
What’s your doing thing?
You know, the activity where you create something bigger than yourself and lose all sense of time?
I find grace on my yoga mat, or when sharing a story with you. A friend of mine finds grace when she’s crafting event invitations and planning menus. My son finds grace on the water, surrounded by lures, rods, and fish.
Grace appears when you actively do something that lights you up.
Nathaniel Ayers, finds grace when he’s running a bow across strings. Last night I watched The Soloist, a movie based on the connection between a homeless musician suffering from schizophrenia, and the LA Times reporter who befriended him. Steve Lopez wrote columns, and later a book about their relationship.
There’s a scene in the movie where Lopez tells his ex-wife about attending a symphony rehearsal with Nathaniel, who attended Julliard until the voices in his head took over his life. The couple is in a noisy bar. Lopez is yelling from excitement as much as to be heard:
“I’m telling you it was such an unbelievable experience—the whole day. And if you had seen him…if you could have felt him! We’re listening to the same music, but you see him—it’s one thing, you feel him. I’m watching him, he’s watching the music and while they’re playing I say—My God, there is something higher out there. Something higher out there! And he’s with it. I’ve never even experienced it, but I can tell. I don’t even know what you call it….”
Lopez’s ex-wife leans next to his ear and shouts, “Grace!”
“Alright! That’s grace—thank you!—He’s transported, he surrenders. I’ve never loved anything the way that he loves music!”
I’d argue that even if he didn’t recognize his grace, Lopez lived it through his connection to Nathaniel Ayers.
Recognize your doing thing. Embrace it. Open yourself to Grace.