“Why should I wish to see God better than this day?... I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come forever and ever.” Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Someone recently wrote me that they were trying to "stand the pain to get to the grace". While I have found it true that Life provides compensation in times of injury, hardship, and loss, our emotions and our thinking often fail to recognize compensation for the balm that it is. Belief systems which tell us that we must suffer in order to know Grace (unearned Divine aid and spiritual gifts), miss the point: We cannot earn Grace, by suffering nor by good works. There's no measuring system for a formula that prescribes pain, including spiritual pain, to reach Grace. How much pain? How excruciating, and for how long does one need to suffer? Both pain and grace are words--concepts--molded and linked together by humanity's various experiences and need for understanding, expression and comfort, turned into formula's, and passed down to generations. Do they really fit the 21st century? What happens if we disconnect our personal suffering from having any spiritual value? Perhaps that would free us to be more effective in managing and dissolving the causes of suffering.
While it often appears that the desperation of personal suffering pushes us to search for another way of life, some other force or power, to be free from suffering, does this search really bring Grace? Does it somehow prove to God that we are worthy or serious about our spiritual life? Or has Grace been there all along? This Life itself is Grace: this Life, with struggles and hardships and times of loss; this same life with wonders, delights, joy, and compensation--All Grace. What happens if we decidedly turn our attention to the delightful, take time to marvel the beauty, savor the satisfactions that come, note happy events, embrace compensations that rebalance life, allow the smile, all the laugh...all of which add up to joy? It can't/won't be every moment, but we can choose more joy. We choose joy when we pay attention and appreciate the good that weaves through our everyday life, especially when it seems obscured by gray skies or dark thoughts, or heavy hearts. Letters from God are still flowing--not just letters--but Love letters, awaiting your warm response. (Susan Nettleton)
For more, follow the links: https://onbeing.org/poetry/small-basket-of-happiness/