Recognizing grace in the face of turmoil. Reflections at the close of a year filled with chaotic change.

Christmas Ramblings
December 23, 1999

Today is the day I’ve chosen to wrap the girls’ presents.  As I stand at the kitchen table wrapping their gifts, random thoughts drift through my mind: some are my own, others are whispered by an angelic muse.  I think of the gifts that are already under our tree, smiling at the memory of those ladies carrying in armload after armload of gifts -- not only for the girls, but for Cheryl and myself as well.  These gifts were bought and wrapped out of compassion for us in our time of need.

Compassion is an emotion born out of a person’s identification with another person in pain or in need.  The poor in any community are often the most generous, because they've been there.  Those who have fought through a dread disease are most likely to enter the fight to eradicate it.  Humans are necessarily frail as part of God’s design.  Because of that frailty, we must struggle through life -- some more than others, it’s true , but it’s a struggle for everyone.  Everyone gets sick or hurt, suffers loneliness and defeat, loses a loved one through death.  Because of this struggle, everyone has a degree of compassion.

As I wrap the girls’ gifts, I do it with love -- I think of the looks that will be on their faces as they open them.  I can’t help but smile and be happy for them.  I realize that these same thoughts went through the minds of the dear members of our community as they wrapped the gifts under our tree.  I’ll bet they smiled just as widely.

I think too, as we near the close of this year, how far we have come.  On New Year’s Day of 1999, we had no idea that Adrianne would relapse in April, or that we would nearly lose her in July, or that we would end the year with one of us home full-time, using 21 drawers full of medical supplies and equipment to minister to Adrianne’s health.

We didn’t know of COTA, or the role that they would play in helping us to set up a fundraiser so we could maintain some sort of solvency.

Then again, we had no idea of the untiring dedication of Cheryl’s co-workers, or the staff at Olympic View School, or the overwhelming compassion of our community.  I see their outpoured love as a reflection of grace.

Grace is “unmerited favor.”  In the eyes of God, we are nothing but poor sinners.  He pours out grace to us -- in our case, overwhelming grace -- not because of who we are, but because of who he is.  In the Olympia community, I see this grace reflected: These people have had compassion for us -- not because of who we are, but because of who they are.  They love because it is their nature, and I’m proud to be a part of the community because of it!

There is a great deal of interest in this coming New Year’s Day, because it is the change, not only of the century, but of the millennium.  In every walk of life, in every belief, there is a certain fascination or even a decree to observe various “special” days.  These may occur weekly, monthly, yearly, or even every thousand years.  It occurred to me today that most of us miss the most significant day of all, because we’re too busy planning for, or worrying about the future.  That day is “Today!”

It is what we do today that influences what our tomorrow will be like.  The new millennium happens next week, and many believe that chaos will reign because of the Y2K problem.  If that is the case, then perhaps we should prepare today.  Stockpile some batteries and canned goods.  Fill your gas tank, and buy candles.  DOING TODAY will help make that time easier.  Just as it is impossible for regret to change the past, it is impossible for anxiety to change one tiny thread of the future.  However, preparation today can reweave the entire fabric of that future day.

As far as chaos goes, I feel that this belief sells humanity short.  We do not choose to go through hardship, or to suffer, but we do so because it happens to come our way.  We are given the grace to meet the need -- never enough for future needs, but enough for today, one day at a time.  I believe that if our economy collapses, we will struggle through it.  If our computer inventories are wiped out, we’ll grab a pencil and piece of paper, and recreate them.  If our utilities shut down, we will fix them.  If we get cold, we’ll light a fire, or get more blankets.  Maybe all the workaholics will have to go home when the sun goes down, for a few days -- but we will cope!  Above all, if our economy fails, I can see us helping each other along, just as we have always done -- a reflection of grace.

Dallas D'Angelo-Gary 99