In the Blink of an Eye

Inspired by a gorgeous winter sunset in Rhode Island 

It all started when I was quickly walking from the library to the main house of Mater Ecclesiae College. I had just finished writing some emails and looking for a book, and was in the process of thinking of the next 100 things I wanted to do, when suddenly a cold blast hit me head on. Without thinking, I turned my face to the right and stopped short at what I saw. Stretched out before my eyes was a pristine snow-covered field and forest. But what really caught my attention was the magnificent purple, orange, and pink sunset hovering right over the treetops. “I have to go get my camera!” I gasped. I hurried inside to grab my camera and came back outside, my awe and excitement far surpassing my previous chagrin of the bitter cold. But to my dismay, the beautiful colors, which only two minutes before had filled the sky, had already disappeared over the horizon, and left the sky a tranquil but much less invigorating dark blue.

At this point several thoughts entered my mind:

            First thought: “It’s kind of like actual grace…”

            Second thought: “Where in the world did THAT come from?!?”

The wheels began to turn, and my mind went back to last semester’s Christian Spirituality class: Actual grace is a gift, a divine impulse from God granted to a person in a specific moment so that the person can draw closer to God and follow His will more faithfully. ‘In a specific moment’ is what echoed in my mind at that point…

If God gives us grace in a specific moment, then we have to take advantage of the grace while its there. If we wait too long to respond to the gift, it may pass us by. Imagine how many unused graces there are, left by countless people who didn’t have time to stop and see all the gifts, big and small, that God places in their path just because he loves them! Or how many people waste the whole intensity of a grace because they’re worrying how long it will last? In the similar way, maybe I should have taken advantage of the beauty of the sunset in that moment and just soaked in the little message of love that God was sending me in order to (literally) brighten the end of a long day.

Maybe there was a connection between the two things after all: to act in the present moment. Act on the graces God places before you now. Serve now. Love now, while you have the chance. Because otherwise the opportunity may pass you by; and who knows when you’ll get the same opportunity again?

I guess that’s one lesson remembered and another lesson learned.