On grace… revisited

11 years on. 4018 days.

Countless metaphors and moments, mirrors and memories.

I've been lost and I've been found more times than I can remember.

Some things change. Some things the same.

... Time to head to the gym I guess.

Exactly eleven years ago I wrote this Facebook post on Tuesday, 30 June 2015.
As Tuesday, 30 June 2026 rolls around once more, I am struck ('scuse the pun) by the cyclical nature of this life of ours.

Today was filled with unexpected things…

It started with sad news, and progressed through nearly forgotten appointments, artistic frustration, tasks that took hours instead of minutes, and at 5:30pm, having achieved almost nothing I had planned to do with Tuesday the 30th of June, I packed it all in and went to the gym.

I was just settling into a good rhythm with my weights when I remembered what day it was. Bugger!!! Cue: racing across town to get to my monthly Labyrinth walk. I was late…. They had started. The door banged shut as the handle slipped out of my hand. Oops! I was in my gym gear. I was going to freeze in this church hall! Then I sat on the brown plastic chair and gathered my thoughts, and took off my shoes, and remembered why I come. I like this space and this monthly ritual.

As I entered the labyrinth I dedicated my walk for the sake of others, that they may be free from pain and suffering. This is my usual thing, but it had specific meaning today because of loved ones' suffering.

I started walking… It was all at once still and calm.

Beautiful. Methodical. Rhythmical Breath and Step...

And then an onset of mindless thoughts:

<Am I cold?>

<Who's that new woman prancing about?>

<Oh the kids have been doing nice art projects> (we shared the space with a playgroup)..

Concentrate Sidonie..!!

So I come back to asking for pain and suffering to be relieved, for people to forgive and release the wrongs others have done them…for me to forgive others. Myself.

Have you ever walked a labyrinth? The first few turns bring you very close to the centre, to the heart of the thing, and then swing you wildly out like a planet in orbit. It takes another twenty minutes to get back to the light in the middle… All the time, you're faithfully, blindly, sometimes mindfully but often not, putting one foot in front of the other. Dodging the fellow walkers, keeping your balance on tight corners..

And then I hit my head.
Well, actually something hits me in the forehead. Not hard, but absolutely. It is a piece of low-hanging craft.
A sparkly shiny moon made by a kid named Rocco.
As I turn back to view this paper-plate crescent-moon from the other direction I see that Rocco is in fact Grace, on the flipside.

HUH…

Grace

Amazing, glorious, Grace.

The grace of Barack Obama leading the Charleston congregation in song

The grace of people who have loved one another for 50 years and can now lawfully marry

The grace of those who fight still for equality, opportunity, and freedom

The grace of first peoples in their journey to proper recognition and reconciliation

The grace of artists, farmers, and educators, who maintain an independent voice in the face of governments who care little for the future

The grace of those who stand up, are audacious, original, daring, and unafraid

The grace of those who are innocent

The grace of those whose life is at an end

A quality that sometimes is so hard to find..

May sparkly paper moons smack you in the head and remind you that in every darkened room, behind a rock, lies that quality beyond compare.