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Feature
Article
Seeing
Grace
by The Third Will
Grace. I came to appreciate its beauty after I
read an article about a man who continued to keep a holy, worthwhile, and
happy life even after the time he met an accident that cut his legs
off. He always saw grace around him even in the direst
of circumstances, like the concern of the people who helped him get to the
hospital after the accident.
We ordinary people are not like this;
we find it difficult to maintain a cheerful disposition in a lot of
situations: when the traffic jams, the printer doesn't work, our boss has
scolded us, the ATM is out of order, it is raining hard, the queue in the
grocery is long, there's no taxi when we need one, we're running late, we
have no money, we are out of job, the kids are sick, and so on.
It
seems we are stuck in something we have no control. Maybe this is true if
we look at the source of the trouble. But if we look closely at ourselves,
we will find this is not entirely true. We have powers
greater than these circumstances, if only we know how to draw them from
within us. We can use willpower and the power of
positive vision to overcome these glitches. The former
is the power to maintain grace under pressure; the latter is the power to
discern grace in disguise.
Most of us cyber citizens might
have already encountered this e-mail about being happy when your feet
aches from walking because it means you can still walk, when your
wife/husband hogs the remote control because it means he/she is at home
and not somewhere else�or something like that. I cannot remember the rest,
but that's the general thought; we can add our personal list to
it.
When I was younger, I
used to complain why we have only this house of a few square meters. I
wanted a bigger, more beautiful house. Only later did I discover how
helpful it was for us as a young family to have that small house, where
everywhere we went we were just within earshot of each other. Had it been
a bigger house, we would have each been isolated in our individual rooms,
lost in our separate worlds.
As often said, we cannot change the condition around us but
we can change our perspective. It's not easy because
our first tendency when faced with difficulties is to complain, blames
someone else, or burst into anger. But somebody told me a long time ago
that anger is not caused directly by the originator of the stimulus or the
stimulus itself, as we believe. Rather it is one's past experiences that
trigger him to react in anger. It means my anger is my own.
Somebody else might not react the same way faced with the same
circumstances.
Before we see
grace in difficult moments, first we need to make preparations. The power
to see grace is a little tricky. Also, because graces are so thin, so
subtle, and so elusive one could not logically be expected to see it in a
fit of anger or in panic.
One helpful tip I learned to control my emotion is to think
that nothing external can have power over me--not even anger.
Just as I said, it's not easy. But we can try
practicing little by little until it becomes a lifestyle.
Maybe we could start by maintaining our composure every time the
computer bogs down, the guy packing our groceries is slow, our roommate
leaves her shoes just lying around yet again.
For those most
pressing and depressing concerns, we need faith. Lots and lots of it.
Faith in the grace of God, His plan, and in His divine providence
manifested also in the love of our neighbors. Before we jump off a bridge
to end our worries, we could first try to lay our worries at the feet of
that Man-God who, dying on the cross cried "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" After all, isn't it right at that
tremendous moment of suffering when the most abundant grace was poured to
humanity?
True, we often cannot see grace in the most difficult
circumstances. We need grace to see grace. But the
moment we see it, we can look at it as if it were as precious as a flower
that blooms in the most barren land, or a gem among the dirt.
We
could also find little graces in our seemingly difficult and ordinary
days, if only we keep a watchful eye and a simple heart.
For me it is grace to be able to clean the house and wash the bed
sheets, to receive an unexpected mail, to catch a ride in a friend's car
when I am in a hurry and the weather is not good, or just being offered a
seat in the bus.
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Previous
Issues
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September
Issue:
From Afar
by
Honeycomb
Today is one of the most awaited days of my
week. Today, I will see
him. My heart will be alive
with emotion once more.
I enter the room and sit
quietly. People are already
starting to come in. I look
around, trying my very best not to look like I�m
looking around. The meeting
will start in a few minutes and there is yet no
trace of him. Maybe he won�t be
here today. It�s just as
well, I thought to myself.
The less I see of him, the better I will
be.
Whoever said that a love unreciprocated is
a heavy burden for the heart to bear is very
correct. I often spend nights
in my room asking God why I have to feel this
way. Lord, I would tell
him, if these feelings are not from you, then
please take them away. I do not
want them. I never asked for
them. Why do I have to go
through this?
[Read
more]
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August
Issues:
Finding
Home
by The Third
Will
Joyfully Single, Period
by
Honeycomb |
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