Swimming in Grace

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Eugene H. Peterson died on October 20, 2018, but he lives on in The Message, his inimitable rendition of the New Testament in contemporary language! The Message has been my daily reading of the Scriptures for many years. Peterson’s pastoral understanding of Jesus has formed me; besides, he uses words that matter, words that have power to get under my skin to convince me that I am—you are, we are—smothered with grace from the beginning of time, from our own specific beginnings, and that grace will continue to seep into every moment of time, whether we notice it or not! Grace does not pour itself out only at a requested time, he might say, but we are swimming in grace all the time and like a fish in water opening its fins, we need only open our minds, hearts, ears, to become conscious of such gentle, continuous Presence. 

We are graced, blessed, loved in every possible way, and continuously! It may be in the scene outside a window when we open it to watch the dawn arrive, or in the bubbles on the oatmeal we cook, or in the one who opens the car door to laughing children, backpacks in tow for another day at school. Grace could be the 9 black crows pecking at leftover grain in the field alongside your house or in the blue, blue December sky. Grace makes you smile when the phone rings and it’s your friend inviting you to lunch or to a bicycle ride down Lake Woebegon Trail on a sunny afternoon.

Grace is already present in the flat tire or the heavy snow needing a shovel or in a child’s failure in an exam or in your attempt to console the one who failed. Grace is everywhere—that’s the Message! You may wish to have a copy of it in your prayer corner or on your desk...especially if you are a respecter of language, a poet, or one who loves the way Eugene H. Peterson gets under your skin with Truth and metaphor. He would convince you, too, that everything is spiritual, that the words “God” or “Christianity” are too small or that we may be praying when it’s not our allotted time for prayer (e.g. from 6–7 a.m. or 9–10 p.m.). Like the fish in water, we are in God; we swim in grace; our fins are already working well!

Renée Domeier, OSB