It’s likely, that maybe you are a person of faith, or maybe you’re not.  Just the same, I imagine we’ve all heard or said, “There by the grace of God go I.”  My mother in law has moved past the twilight years, and not yet to the end, though, it’s painfully near. Painfully. The kind of pain that makes every part of your body and soul hurt.  Physical pain.

And I think, there by the grace of God go I.  There by the grace of God we all.

Sandy’s life is a life full of events.  Some that are beautiful moments full of joy and laughter and some that create heartbreaking pain.  The loss of a toddler son, the loss of an adult daughter, the transition into assisted living. Sandy has an incredible way of remembering the special moments of her life.  Growing up in Rye, NY moving to Colorado, determined to be a New Yorker until the very last.  Our trip to Disney World and guacamole at her favorite Mexican haunt, Sandy has a life that ultimately is well lived.  Not always joyous and certainly not always sad — I think enough of each, to appreciate the value in the other.

Where did it come from…?  The notion that we walk this walk by the sheer grace and presence of God, our Almighty?

A paraphrase from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:8-10, which states, “Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…”.

Enter John Bradford.  He was an incredible man of faith and credited to this iconic phrase.  A man of faith and jailed by Mary Tudor, John was relentless in his faith to God.  Sentenced to death, in the cruelest of fashion being burnt by the stake. He remained steadfast in faith knowing that his life, his being, his death, were all ordained by the most HOLY. And until his very last of moments sought the forgiveness of those he’d hurt and granting that same forgiveness to those who had done the same.

So I wonder, as I sit here with Sandy just how often I take for granted that there by the grace of God go I?  I have to believe that my every moment is directed by his hand — and that HIS influence is always around guiding my decision-making and helping me to be the kind of human that is full of compassion, love and a heart for HIS service.

This is a difficult time.  There is seemingly little that I can do to offer comfort to Eric, except to be there for him… take his cues and sometimes just hold his hand.

There by the grace of God… go I.