Thursday, September 16, 2010

Amazing Grace

I have been thinking about life, and the Grace that guides us. Some people talk about having luck, be it good or bad. I don't believe in luck. I believe in choices. Our lives are made up of the results of our choices. Good choices bring good results, bad ones, well, we know what they bring. There is no luck involved. But there is a lot of Grace. We just don't always see it, or recognize it, or acknowlege it.

When I was about four or five years old, I spent my days at my friend Patty's house, while my parents worked. I had other friends that stayed there, too. Lisa and Betty also had working moms, so Patty's mom took care of us.

One day, as we were playing in the back yard, a man came along and asked us to help us look for his kitten. Betty was afraid, and stayed behind, but Patty, Lisa and I followed. We walked along through back streets and alleys, calling for the kitten. We came out to the edge of the neighborhood near a field, with some sheds and outbuildings. The man, Mr. Kissinger, asked me to help him look in one of the sheds. When we went in, he started fidgeting with his belt, and told me to pull my pants down. When my daddy did that, I was going to get a spanking for misbehaving, but this wasn't my daddy. I said ,"No!", and went back outside with my friends.

When he came back out, he gave Lisa some dimes and told her and I to go back up the street to buy us some sodas. When we came back with the sodas, Mr. Kissinger was sitting against a tree with Patty in his lap, and her pants were down, and his hand was between her legs, and she was crying. We turned around and started heading back to Patty's house. I was following Lisa at first, not knowing what was happening. I didn't understand, and was trying to. When we came to a street that Lisa knew, she took off running for her house. I kept going towards Patty's.

Lisa was a bit older than I was. She seemed to know what was happening. She must have run in and told her parents. By the time I got back to Patty's house, my daddy was there with the police. They already knew everything, I didn't have to tell them. So I figured Lisa already had. My daddy went with the police, and they brought back that man with Patty. Later we went to the police station and answered questions, and I looked at pictures and told them where everything happened. Then we went to court, and I told everything all over again. The judge gave me silver dollars for being so well behaved. I always wondered what they gave Patty. She didn't smile or seem happy any more when I saw her. And I didn't get to go to her house any more, either.

Was it luck that I wasn't in Patty's place? No. It was Grace. I was moved, guided by Spirit, to act as I did. I was young and open. It was easy. As I've gotten older, I've found it takes a bit of effort sometimes, to remain open. But if I make the effort, when the Spirit moves, and I follow Grace, good things happen.

I'll come back again and look back on other steps I've taken, and other times when Grace was with me. For now, ponder carefully your next step. But remain open to the Grace that Spirit sends to guide you, and see where it leads you. Have Faith, and the next step will always be revealed.

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