BECAUSE, GRACE ISN'T LOGICAL

 



“Be watchful... The grace of God appears suddenly.

It comes without warning to an open heart.”

Rumi

 

Why certain things happen in our lives, in a certain way – yes, this is a real mystery to me. What looks, on the surface, as a good fortune, may end up being a bad one; similarly, what looks, on the surface, as a bad fortune, may end up being a good one...

“A blessing in disguise”... It’s what a seemingly bad fortune delivered to our doorstep  with an amazing blessing concealed inside!

Yesterday, my wife and I had visited the residence of an elderly uncle of mine, Frank, (my mom’s first cousin). He is 80 and lives with his affectionate wife, Cissy (75). Their children are well-qualified and wonderfully settled abroad with their respective families. Uncle and aunty had always been self-reliant, judicious in their conduct, very pious and great believers in serving the society in their own little way. Last afternoon, uncle and aunty were reflecting on several things that have happened in their lives – and made them wonder how Graceful God had been for these strange coincidences...

“God has been kind to us,” uncle and aunty were repeating again and again, “He has given us more than what we deserve.”

Uncle Frank’s mother and my maternal grandmother were sisters. Extreme poverty was  what they were born into. To worsen the situation, uncle’s mother was polio-infected and was permanently crippled. At the age of 12, someone from her native village brought her to Bombay city, placed her as a house help in a Parsi house, and this man disappeared for ever. Every time, my uncle narrates the story of his mother, he asks in amazement: “How did my mother build her life from such an awful plight?”  

The Parsi household, where she was destined to work as a child, later, made my uncle’s mother a great cook. As years passed by, she made a tiny place for herself, got married, raised her children (including my uncle) and did this: she ran a popular mess from her tiny room... Scores of  men and women (particularly, the young migrants from her native village in Mangalore) frequented this place for a nice, homely food... Not just that: uncle’s mother helped dozens of young boys and girls from her native village to migrate into this city, accommodated them for some time in her tiny place till they found a job and a better place to live... alongside, making her own children educated and confident in life...

“Cissy (his wife) lived opposite our room,” says uncle Frank, “that’s where we were destined to meet, marry and raise our own family.”

Aunty Cissy had similar stories to narrate about her own strange connections in life...

Think of it: What if uncle Frank’s mother was not born into a poverty-stricken family? What if she wasn’t infected with polio? And, what if a stranger hadn't brought her (at age 12) to this city and abandoned her to  work as a house help in a Parsi household?

Judah Smith seems to have answers to these ‘What-if’ questions:


“Sometimes, our brains are our worst enemy;

because, Grace isn’t logical.”





Simran Shroff has turned 25 today. She is the daughter of my friend, Manoj, and they live just above my institute. When Simran was in her mother’s womb, sometime in her mother’s seventh month of pregnancy, the mother developed some major complications, due to which Simran was surgically saved, while the mother couldn’t be. Obviously, Simran was born with physical and mental challenges. The way Manoj, his second wife (who he remarried to) and the extended family nursed Simran to take her every single step, speak her every single word, helped her with every single personal chore... and, above all, to complete her graduation – literally, carrying her to school and college every day – yes, it's a gritty saga of grace, hope and determination.

Today, at 25, Simran is still confined to her home. She is unable to move around like you and me. But, she can be the most positive and hopeful soul we can find around. “I am fine, Sir; thank you for calling... I am hopeful, I will be able to walk and work, soon,” Simran beamed when I called her to wish, this morning...

Max Lucado says: “The meaning of life... The wasted years of life... The poor choices of life... God answers the mess of life in one word – GRACE.”





Yes Sir, everything in life happens for a reason -  everyone, or every situation that comes into our lives – yes, yes, yes... there must be a reason...

 

GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic’s: Pixabay: 1. Masson Aslami  2. Following NYC

Video: Chris Else

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BUT, NOT INTO EACH OTHER'S KEEPING...

Image
"If you can not love yourself, You can not love another.” I meet many young college students who are head-over-heals in relationship. They call it ‘Love’. One of the most difficult things to deal with in such relationship, for most of them, is: the desperate clinging of the other partner. “Why didn’t you call? Why didn’t you meet? Where did you go? What did you do? Who was there with you? Why can’t we go out? Why did you wear this? Why did you go there? Why? What? When? Who? Where? Whose?... Yes, all the possible ‘W’s’ in the world. Yes, in the world of our ‘Love Birds’. What starts as some romantic sweet-nothings, now is marred with endless probing, judging, accusing, blaming, sulking, fighting and pain. Most of them are unprepared to deal with this volatile shift… They end up hurting each other; more importantly, they end up hurting themselves. They begin to wonder: Where has all the sweetness gone? Why am I feeling so lonely now? Why is this suffocation? This fear? T...
Read more

THE SPANISH DANCE

Image
I remember reading this little story, many years ago. It was in Shiv Khera’s famous book: ‘YOU CAN WIN’. A man had a dog with an unusually special gift: he could run over water! Now, what a special gift that was, in deed! This man, obviously, felt proud about his gifted dog… and many, many people complimented him on it. He, undoubtedly, felt good about it. Then, one day, this man happened to meet an old, dear friend. He wanted to show this friend the special talent of his dog and took him along for hunting. They went to the countryside. There, he proudly demonstrated to his friend the unique talent of his dog. Every time he shot down a bird from the sky, the gifted dog, like a missile, would speed over the water, and fetch back the bird to his master. It happened repeatedly. “Did you see, my friend?” the man asked with immense pride. “Yes, I did?” replied the friend. “What did you see?” the man wanted to be reassured. “That, your dog can not swim!” Last night, I proudly ...
Read more

THEY NEED SUN, NOT TOO MUCH SHADE

Image
      “And stand together yet not too near together: For, the pillars of the temple stand apart And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s company.” Kahlil Gibran in ‘The Prophet’ I n his remarkable book, ‘The Prophet’, Kahlil Gibran’s famous lines might have been in response to the request – “Master, say something about Marriage”… Yes, it might have been used to emphasize on the need for ‘space’ in marital relationships… yet, in a larger context, ‘space’ is a universal thirst in every kind of relationship… You see, humans cannot grow in shade… They get suffocated, and die! In our summer programme on Personality Development, we, always, hold the Workshop on ‘Self-esteem’ first. The reason: a healthy self-esteem is the foundation for the healthy development of one’s personality… During the Workshop on ‘Self-esteem’, the facilitator (Swami Brahmavidananda Saraswati) helps the participants to reflect on the major parental messages that impact s...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...