SAUCIER — ’Twas grace

My brother and his wife had stopped by the house. We chatted awhile, catching up on kids and grandkids.

We always do that, but this time was different, a cloud hovered over the conversation.

Then, he delivered the news. In just a matter of days, he had lost vision in one eye and had diminished sight in the other.

The prospects were frightening, not only could the disease take the other eye, but it could attack arteries affecting other organs.

I don’t know who shed the first tear, but they were running freely as his wife helped him explain the regimen of treatment he would undergo.

After our eyes had dried, and they were ready to leave, my brother said, “Give me a hug. I don’t know if I’ll see you again.”

That bit of gallows humor was a great relief to me. I knew then that, whatever happened, he was going to be okay.

The months since then have left me in awe.

My brother was an active guy who could drive anything, fix anything, and could shoot a dock crappie fishing with the best of them.

Those are memories gaining distance with each passing day.

My sister-in-law had been caring for her dying mother up until just a few months before my brother’s attack. Suddenly, she was a caregiver again: chauffeur, chef and personal assistant for everything from groceries to wardrobe.

It has to be difficult for both. Yet, while they must have moments of frustration or resentment, they carry on with an inspiring strength and love.

The German poet Heinrich Heine once observed, “Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one’s nose.”

We have painful emotional experiences of grief, loss and disappointment, but at some point, most of us dry our eyes, blow our nose, and embark on living whatever new life we find ourselves in.

For me, Heine is pointing to grace.

While we would like grace to be some miraculous cure, some lifeline of escape, most often that is not the case.

I find God’s grace embedded in the world, entangled in our DNA.

We are resilient, enduring, hope-filled creatures by nature. 

This is the intrinsic grace of our existence, part of being “wonderfully made” as the psalmist says.

This grace is available to all, believer or not, though I’d give the faithful the inside track. Their prayer keeps the path open for the help they may need.