Paying Attention

God never said it would be easy, did he? Ever have just "one of those days" where all of the smallest things go wrong? One of those days where you are pretty sure that you are not adequate to the task, not really able to do all the things that you want to do, all the things you are being asked to do?

I've learned to pay attention on those days most of all. Grace will show up. It will show up in a thousand little ways, just when you discounted there being any hope of it at all.

I sat down in the middle of the afternoon on just one of those days, feeling defeated. There were a million things to do, and had I done them? It was only 1pm -- how was I so tired already? I felt myself comparing me to other people -- that person would know what to do, this person would never lose the energy. I wanted to say a prayer, but no prayer came. I would just have to be faithful, to trudge on.

And then I got a text from a friend who said, "Remember: you are loved. To infinity."

I could have dismissed the moment as a sweet thought, maybe a warm and fuzzy thing. But something told me to hold onto that thought for a moment longer. To pay attention. It was more than a friend texting something kind -- although seriously, what a wonderful friend. It was a moment of grace in a moment of discouragement. We have to hold onto those little moments. We have to believe that those moments are God speaking to us through others.

Sometimes on those days, it comes in a simple breeze that reminds us of the Holy Spirit. In the smile of another person. St. Vincent de Paul said that "Love is inventive even to infinity." God is always there, breaking through, trying to tell us that he will see us through those days, telling us in a million different ways -- through prayer, through others, through the beauty of nature, through music -- grace is there, inventive even to infinity, determined to show us that we are loved, and we must be looking for it, we must be waiting for it, waiting to be surprised by this love that is breaking through even when we have "one of those days."