Notes &
I read a story the other day of a woman who was skiing. She fell over while skiing but wasn’t seriously injured. After the fall she stood back up on her skis and felt physically fine except for a few aches and strange waves of nausea washing over her. She stood there, still in her skis, pinching her nose against the nausea and praying for help.
I don’t know how long I stood there with my hand clamped to my mouth, only my poles and a frayed, consignment-store faith to support me. All I knew was that help is always on the way, a hundred percent of the time. Rumi said, “Someone fills the cup in front of us.” I know that when I call out, God will be near, and hear, and help eventually. Of course, it is the “eventually” that throws one into despair.*
After a little while a ski patrol woman shows up and takes this nauseous woman to a warm first-aid shack nearby. The ski patrol woman gives her a little water and then leaves to give her some space to get warm, rest and calm down.
After a while, I stretched out on one of the benches and closed my eyes. The kerosene smelled like lacquer, and I kept feeling waves of nausea. My bones were cold. I could isolate the icy scent of pine trees that sneaked through the walls. Sometimes grace is a ribbon of mountain air that gets in through the cracks.*
What has been grace for you today?
*Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott 2007
