2020 Triptych pt.3 – It’s All Grace

“Everyone capable of giving thanks is capable of salvation.” – Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Have you ever thought about the astronomical odds involved in you being alive?

The odds that, however old the earth is, your two parents would live at the exact same time. And that, of all the billions of people in the world at any given time, your two parents would find themselves in the same place and would meet and procreate. Seriously, what are the odds?

And whatever those odds are, multiply them by the odds that, during the act of procreation, the exact combination of sperm and egg needed to create YOU, just as you are, would occur. Keep in mind that the average man produces nearly 200 million sperm PER DAY. And the average woman is born with 1-2 millions of eggs.

Certainly, we are now talking near incalculable odds.

And here is the real kicker: those same ridiculous odds were against each one of your parents being born too. Right? I mean, what are the odds that their parents would live at the same time and be in the same place and that they would meet and procreate, and the exact combination of sperm and egg needed to create them would occur? Because, obviously, that needed to happen for each of them before it could happen for you.

And what are the odds that your parents’ parents would be born? And the odds that their parents would be born? And their parents? And theirs? And on and on and on.

Those astronomical odds grow exponentially with each generation that passes and yet somehow all of it happened exactly how it needed to happen for you to be sitting right where you are sitting as you read this.

The fact that any of us exist is insane. It makes no statistical sense.

Here is my point: life is a freaking gift!

Listen, I would love to wrap a bow around this 2020 Triptych and tell you that I’ve found the perfect and ultimate resolution to this conflict. But that would be untrue. I haven’t found resolution, at least not “resolution” with a capital “R.”

What I found, instead, was gratitude.

I am learning we need to celebrate the small “r” resolutions in life. The small moments when we realize again the gifts and the grace we have received. Because those moments are foretastes of the capital “R” resolution. They are reminders that the rumors we’ve heard are true, that the world is good deep down, that God is in control, that He loves us far more than we could ever fathom.

In the face of the storms and the hardships, we need to find within ourselves the ability to celebrate the small things. And in the end, we may find that those small things weren’t so small after all. In fact, they may be the very things God uses to save us from the storms and hardships.

We need to celebrate the small things and remember that life itself is a gift. Doing so hasn’t fixed everything for me, of course. But the hurt has lightened and the chains have loosened.

You simply have less energy for negativity when you spend it all giving thanks.

Frederick Buechner may have said it best: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

Credits

Words & Music: Bill Wolf
Backing Vocals: November Nicholson
Produced: Collin Brummette