|
* * *
We need not get bogged down in seeking explanations, when we can celebrate how Grace works marvels. Our demanding explanations, as well as clinging to our prior prejudices of what can and cannot happen, or what a happening does or does not mean, moves us from the grace, the joy of what did happen. We can relax and celebrate what appears as gifts from the Unseen, without getting tangled up in the logic of the why and how, or yes or no. We simply have no idea of what is possible. We have no right to place our logical strictures on life, deciding for life what life must be or can be. That is human arrogance, a pride that, likely more than not, hides a fear of living in a universe that is free to be what it is and act outside our ideas of what it is.
* * *
In the Gospel of John story, the water did not turn itself into wine. An ‘outside’ inspiration, or influence, effected a becoming in a particular direction. Jesus, in communion with that he called “Father,” influenced and inspired the turning toward wine. He took the water as water, and he saw in the water the potential of wine. Possibly, no one present at the wedding saw the wine in the water, Jesus did.
* * *
I told a friend recently how I was experimenting with life by relaxing into just one moment and reminding myself anything can happen. I do not need to feel in control. I feel this as positive expectation. I have often been a the-glass-is-half-full person. Yet, to drop that, relax into now, and trust there is potential for positive transformations to come as gifts of Grace, graces I could not work myself to or into, or make happen, is a welcome relief and invites Life to work for and with me in peaceful communion.
Often, indeed, we do not trust the process. We are taught to be assertive and make things happen, to be efficient, to produce. We work toward results we can manage ~ or think we can manage ~, rather than trusting and enjoying the process of turning, of becoming, of the ever-fresh Now. One way is effortful, one is graceful. Wine is always arising from water, and we will see, if we choose to see. We will experience more this grace of turning by being with and working with the unseen factors, rather than trying to control what cannot be controlled anyway.
* * *
What happens in the story, at the wedding, is not a Christian happening, nor is it simply a story for one faith or persons of faith. What happens in the turning is how Life works, how Grace graces. The way of Blessedness is to relax into this mysterious flow of Life, to welcome Life to work for us, and Life responds “Yes” with our “Yes.” In return, we bless others through the Grace that has blessed us. Having received, we give. The gift that changes our life for the better, that enriches us, expands, including others in the orb of its Beauty and Power.
*Brian Wilcox. 'invitation to now'. Flickr.
*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2019
|
