Grace, in the natural world, often appears in the form of unexpected beauty. I looked up from writing that line just in time to see a doe and fawn nibbling their way across a neighbor’s lawn, just past the ugly plastic garbage cans that anchor us to the reality of necessity. The pair of whitetail deer parted and fled in opposite directions at the approach of a car; a few minutes later, the mother doubled back to find her babe in the brush. 

In those fleet moments, I was offered the gift of grace, unmerited perhaps, but welcome nonetheless. I accepted it with relish, remembering the buck with felted antlers spied the other day along a regional roadway, seeking sustenance as I gathered up another grace of nature. 

I am blessed! You are too! Remember this the next time the sky seems awfully gray. “Oh, the tree of life is growing/Where the spirit never dies/And the bright light of salvation shines/In dark and empty skies.” (Bob Dylan, “Death Is Not the End.”)

Get up, get out and gather grace!