Grace notes...

Grace notes…. One of the first embellishments I learned in my piano lessons were grace notes…the tiny little black note just before the important note…that added a simple flourish to the melody. There was no complicated fingering or difficult timing, just a simple little note. My life is full of grace notes these days and they pop up everywhere. Sitting in worship Sunday morning at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., the announcements included recognition of our youngest grandson’s birthday. When his name was called, the church’s voice said “Ahhhh!” with delight. He is a much loved child of God in that congregation. Michael Ussey’s sermon on one of Jesus’ imperatives, love your enemy, was thoughtful and funny as always. The talkback time after the sermon was a reflection of the healthy relationship between pastor and congregation. Sharing of inner struggles with forgiveness, questions about religion that fosters remembering wrongs done, statements of hard won forgiveness for those who took the life of a child… a grace note reminder that good church is possible, not easy but possible. A friend of mine and her husband are living with the daily subtractions that come with Altzheimer’s. Each day is a challenge for them both with one increasingly more responsible for their lives together. It is not easy…painful and funny, frustrating and clarifying, complicated and simple… but the grace notes give strength for the journey. An invitation to preside at a family wedding, a nephew’s gift of a cruise with them, loving friends and family who show up, the main melody of their life is enriched and supported by these grace notes. Our summer is full… a beach trip with all fourteen of the family, a new granddaughter in July, Michael’s fiftieth high school class reunion, my work camp family gathering, the grandsons coming to Camp Nana PopPop for a week. Grace notes abound in the present and in the future. Even when the melody of my life is in a minor key, grace notes abide and I am grateful. The reminders of God’s goodness and love surround me in the loving welcome I receive from Junie B, the sound of Bob White’s singing in the field, the half grown baby turkeys trotting after their mother, the calves running down the hill in gleeful abandon with their tails raised high, the wildflowers blooming in riotous profusion, sweet warm blueberries straight from the bush, Wiley the cat curled in my lap as we sit on the porch swing together. Thanks be to God for the grace notes, the unexpected appearance of God in the world when I do not expect it. Gratitude and grace… they are twined together in my heart… the honeysuckle of my faith.