Listening to my favorite morning radio show earlier in the week, I was struck by the title of an Emmy Lou Harris CD:"Stumbling into Grace." While barreling through rush hour traffic, I actually laughed out loud at the image it conjured up…stumbling into grace. Can you imagine it? Isn’t that what we all do each and everyday? Through the twists and turns of the ordinary, when sudden life-events threaten to overwhelm us, when those we love disappoint or hurt us…or we, them…..we just keep on stumbling.

I love the bumper sticker that was around for awhile….’grace happens.‘ I know its origins came from a much different bumper sticker which was probably more about the stumbling and less about the human being’s ability to be lifted above all that life hands out by some unseen hand, an invisible presence. Many call that  God, others call it Energy, but most will agree that, indeed, often when life seems its most difficult, they will be surrounded by something that offers us grace. Not by any thing we did…it just happens.

In John McQuiston’s book Always We Begin Again:The Benedictine Way of Living, he writes in modern language the rules of St. Benedict created in the sixth century."What is wanted is not that we should find ultimate truth, nor that we should become secure, nor that we should have ease, nor that we should be without hurt, but that we should live fully. Therefore we should not fear life, nor anything in life, we should not fear death, nor anything in death, we should live our lives in love with life. It is for us to train our hearts to live in grace, to sacrifice our self-centered desires, to find the peace without want without seeking it for ourselves,and when we fail, to begin again each day."

So, my fellow-stumblers,as we trip along today,  may you be found falling in love with your life. May your heart be in learning-mode, stepping gently into each grace-filled moment.