Yes . . . and Thank You
I do not claim to know the mystery of Grace: only that it meets us where we are, and does not leave us where it found us.
ANNE LAMOTT, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
In the end, the way of Grace asks you to just keep surrendering, which means saying yes to the invitations that come knocking mysteriously on your door. Just as a plant is sometimes pruned back in order for robust new growth to emerge, can you say yes when it is time to let go of something no longer useful? Welcome the pruning of subtle judgment, pride, commentary, or anything that blocks your capacity to stay present, openhearted, and awake. Remember that you do not do the pruning. Ego relaxation shows you how to say yes when it is asked. Everything exposed to the light will itself become light.
Keep saying yes to that which fertilizes your soul. Cherish the practices you have found to help you to stay intimate with your deepest heart and to be quiet and settled in your boundless nature so you can listen and respond elegantly as the embodiment of Grace amidst your daily life. If you make the teachings and practices in this book your cherished friends, perhaps integrating your favorites into your daily rhythm, Grace can become exponential within you and extend its nectars more substantially into our world. For everyone’s sake, say yes to that.
Keep saying yes to the mystery of how everything is always happening all at once—the beauty and the horror—but somehow there is Grace to help us get through it, whether in the guise of friends, nature, these teachings, or subtle blessings from celestial spheres. Every time you say yes, anything untrue in you is dissolved. Grace will always deepen, season, and bring out the very best in you.
Whenever you feel the living presence coming alive within your direct experience, you cannot help but say “thank you.” The arrival of gratitude within your heart is recognition that Grace is, and you are bowing in recognition. You naturally say “thank you” when you have a close brush with danger and make it through relatively unscathed, when love somehow triumphs even amidst the spectacular imperfection of your family dynamic, or when someone central to your life has been given a clean bill of health. You say “thank you” not to something else. Perhaps you still do not know to whom you are saying “thank you,” but you say it anyway because you know that it is the truth. Something precious is revealed as you are lifted out of stress and struggle: You are part of this Grace. You are its embodiment, always and forever. As you keep returning the divine gaze, you become its reflection.
Now that you have learned to be as melting snow, Grace is your unchanging ground.
Now that you have learned to recognize and receive the subtle blessings, Grace is your sustenance.
Now that you have learned to yield even into the fierce forces, Grace is your transformer.
Now, together, let us live as the fountain we were made to be. Let the living waters flow to quench our parched and tired Earth.