HAPPINESS is being open to receiving GRACE in its umpteen forms.
The universe blesses us in the most unexpected of ways and ensures that even when we don't get what we want, we get what we need.
This is a 3 part story:
Part 1: A few days ago, I felt like writing a post on ‘grace.’ I wanted to describe it using a story but couldn’t come up with one so I let it go.
Part 2: The last 2 weeks haven’t gone well. My health has been acting up and I haven’t been able to focus even though I’ve tried. Consequently I haven’t been able to do much work which left me frustrated. On Saturday night, I decided to use Sunday to finally get something done.
On Sunday morning my grandparents, who rarely ever visit, informed us that they were coming home to spend the day with us. I really wanted to sit down and work but realised that I should spend time with my grandparents not out of politeness but out of love. So that’s what I did. I spent a good part of the day interrogating them about life before partition and what it was like to cross the border in the midst of widespread rioting. The other half was spent listening to them talk about life in the old age.
When they left and I sat down to work (finally), I felt emotionally nourished. My body had been aching just a couple of hours back but I felt physically better as well. Then as if the universe spoke directly to me, a thought popped up. I had been blessed with exactly what I needed. I needed not to sit down and work but to sit and listen, to give and to receive love. In short, I had experienced grace.
I had barely realised this when I received a phone call to visit a nearby temple to serve food to some people. It doesn’t happen often. As I contemplated going, the answer presented itself to me. GO. Express your GRATITUDE by serving others.
Part 3: I had decided NOT to write a post for Monday and the whole of this week because there are things that need to be done and I haven’t been able to for a while. But when I returned home, I knew what I had to do. I needed to write about grace because I had found THE story. I had understood that grace comes unannounced in a million different forms.
If you’re not too busy complaining, you’ll notice and realise:
To be blessed does not mean to receive what you SEEK but to receive what you NEED.
Pause, take notice because you're blessed all the time in exactly the ways you need at that time in your life.