Amazing Grace

". . . how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.  I was once lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see."  There are many versions of this beautiful hymn, which is known around the world by people of many different faiths.

I've heard the hymn countless times in my life, but today I heard it differently, and that brought a touch of grace to me.  I attended a very moving funeral for a coworker's husband, at the beautiful Catholic church they belong to.  He died suddenly last Monday at the much-too-young age of 52.  They were married for 33 years and had the good fortune of being best friends through all of them.  

I've never been a traditionally-religious person, but I deeply honor all paths to God.  And I realized today that on my path, I'd never had the opportunity to really hear this hymn beyond the first couple of lines.  But as often happens, my answers come at times and in ways I don't expect, and that hymn had something I needed to hear today.

It's a simple explanation, really, for the big struggles my heart faces at times, with remembering what is mine to do, and what is not.  In this time of accelerating growth and change, I have a hard time watching people struggling, hurting, and in fear, and staying in trust myself.  I become fearful about others' fears.  It doesn't help matters, and doesn't serve my truth.  Sometimes it's hard to just remember my own truth in the middle of everything.

The hymn reminded me, in the part I'd never really heard before, that "'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, and Grace, my fears relieved."  Of course!  At times I feel like bonking myself on the forehead; yes, I know this.  Thankfully, I get to hear the truth countless times in myriad different ways, through an infinity of life experience, to remember.  

Grace (from the dictionary), that "influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate them," provides the gifts of struggle, hurt and fear, so that in overcoming them we discover, or more accurately remember, the truth of who we really are.   Fear is the forgetting, and in each and every instance of remembering we are reborn into our Godselves.   

Both fear, and love, which can be thought of as fear's absence, are weighty dichotomies indeed.  Both are brought to us in love, through God's grace.  All are held in divine consciousness.  Not a new concept, certainly, but I'm grateful for it being brought to me today, in the perfect way.  

May you know the amazing grace of your highest self, and that of others',  no matter how it may look in the moment, and may this tool be a blessing. . .