Grace in Small Things 2

Today is one of those days when I really need to stop and reflect on the Grace in Small Things. I’d experienced a few of those little irritations that just prove what a horrible, impatient and cranky person I am. For instance, my fuel light was on (if you’ve read my 100 things page you’ll know I have an issue with putting petrol in the car). So after dropping the girls at school I headed for the nearest service station to fill up. When I got there I found queues at every pump, but that was ok, I wasn’t in a big hurry so I joined one of them. After some considerable time I noticed that my queue wasn’t moving (ain’t that the way?) I craned my neck to see what was going on and noticed that the person filling their car was at the closest pump…there was another pump in front of her…empty, no-one filling up there. That annoyed me, massive queues and a pump sitting unused…of course no-one could actually get to it because of the other cars. So I waited. And waited. I craned my neck again…she had finished filling her car (how much petrol can it possibly hold?) and now she was washing her windscreen…then her back window. The she started fiddling with her back tyre…W.T.F??? I was almost ready to explode but thought maybe I shouldn’t explode. Maybe I should contemplate the Grace in Small Things. So like a right little goody goody that’s what I did and here are today’s 5 things...

Cheaper petrol – we do quite a bit of commuting and petrol here has been up around $1.70ish a litre at times which puts enormous stress on the household budget. Today I filled up for $1.14 a litre. I’m happy and grateful for that.

My car – it may not be my dream car, but it is a reliable and comfortable little vehicle that has safely delivered us to our destinations for a couple of years now. It makes long trips with no complaint and probably doesn’t get nearly as much TLC as it deserves. Thank you car.

My iPod – I listen to it in the car when I’m not listening to Radio National (which I listen to because I am a huge nerd). On my iPod I have music, podcasts (of my favourite Radio National programs that I missed), meditations (I don’t do these in the car though), audio books and various inspirational bits and pieces. It keeps me sane. I love you iPod.

I can drive – what freedom there is in being able to drive. My mother never learned to drive (well that’s not entirely true, I do recall her having lessons but she never followed through and didn’t get a licence) and consequently she was very dependent on others, mostly Dad. When Dad died she was really left with no transport. I appreciate that I can drive and love the freedom and independence it gives me. I do not take that for granted for one minute.

Commuting – admittedly I do sometimes wish we lived closer to the school and eventually we will. Sometimes the last thing I feel like doing is trundling down the freeway morning and afternoon. However, my commute is beautiful. It may be a 3 lane freeway but it is through the Adelaide Hills and on either side there are trees and hills and greenery. It is not through some smoke filled city or barren industrial wasteland or housing estates or dull suburbs. It is here….

and here…..

Thank you God of Commuters.

Grace in Small Things 1

Committing to noticing the Grace in Small Things immediately caused me to start...well, noticing the Grace in Small Things. Today I have a small selection....

1. Watermelon...is there any other fruit so sweet and juicy and thirst quenching and BEAUTIFUL? That colour.....glorious.

2. Candlelight - no need to explain I'm sure.

3. Air conditioning....when it's 110 114 degrees in the shade out there (like today). To be inside, with the whole house cool and (relatively) silent, is a wonderful thing.

4. My morning coffee. Utter happiness.

5. Sleep...when it comes, as it did last night - with dreams.

Now I can't promise that all my Grace in Small Things posts will be pictorial. Some might be, some will be a list, some will part of a blog post. However it is delivered it will be the genuine reflections of my observations of Grace in my daily life.

Feel free to add your own to my list via comments, I'd love to know what yours were today.

Grace in Small Things

Most of you will know I'm not a schmaltzy type...I can be very emotional and fairly often spill my guts about stuff that would be better told to a therapist, but on the whole I'm pretty practical and not given to profound and mushy statements. However just recently I have been experiencing a bit of emotional melt-down, a slight 'life crisis' (note I leave out 'mid' - I'm in denial about that). I've complained a lot, cried a bit, felt overwhelmed, frustrated, sad, depressed, irritated and generally just a whiny pain the arse.

Today I found a journal from about 4 years ago. I read some entries and smacked my head against a wall...talk about history repeating...or perhaps it just hasn't stopped. Maybe I've been having the same emotional melt-downs and crises for years. In fact I think I have.

This has to stop. By constantly coming up against the same issues and then constantly complaining about those same issues I am just reinforcing it in my own mind and in my life. It's stupid, it's pointless and I realised today I am wasting YEARS doing it.

So when I stumbled across this blog entry it occurred to me that too rarely do I stop and see the 'Grace in Small Things'. I'm not one for a gratitude journal or a daily passage from the bible - not that there's anything wrong with those things, I am very grateful for lots of stuff I just don't write about it daily and really, I'm just not going to do a bible reading every day either (I know... I'm going to hell) but I think I can find 5 small things to write about for 365 days. They don't have to be consecutive days, so it might take me 5 years. In fact the exact words of the creator of 'Grace in Small Things' are 'Do it once a week, a month, three times a day. Any old rules will do'.

I also might repeat sometimes (well how can I remember them all?). But more importantly it might just make me stop a bit more often and recognise how fortunate I am and how truly surrounded I am by Grace.

In doing this I hope I will also move on from the stuff I can't change and makes the changes I need to make in the places I can. I know it won't happen overnight and I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon from time to time...but I also have to accept that.

After all, we're all a 'work in progress' aren't we?

For more info about 'The Grace in Small Things' go here.