Graced
Should beauty and godliness be added to messy elegance?
I have been thinking lately if and how grace is part of, adds to, or is perhaps even essential to messy elegance. Gracefulness, Grace, Graciousness - these seem to enrich, to warm, to soften what otherwise might seem clumsy on one hand or icy brittle on another. “Gracefulness is not learned by rote, but by the absorption of the spirit of beautiful things,” is a quotation attributed to John Ruskin, and reinforces that this grace may be not something we are endowed with, but also what we can learn. And Emerson, “All writing comes by the grace of God, and all doing and having.” Does it add or detract to add grace, and its qualities of beauty, the divine, and more to the ways in which we consider messy elegance at it's best?
Should I add “grace” to the book title? Perhaps in this way:
The Messy Elegance of Becoming Whole
Making Your Way Toward a Life of Grace and Depth
with the tagline:
A companion for people learning to live life more deeply
I’ll be exploring grace in future essays here with you. For now, here’s a poem I started while hiking Seaman’s Gulch trail yesterday and finished (at least for now) this morning.
Seaman’s Gulch Trail, 5-9-26, Photo by Michael Kroth
Graced
There will come a time, very sooner or very later
when I will no longer be able to hike,
and therefore no longer able to stroll amidst
the wildflowers and green grasses
along the trails across streams
and up into the mountains.
And when that day comes
through my grief and sadness
I will always know that I have known
The nature of what’s second nature
the revelational joy
found in sage and sunrise
in lupine and morning light
found on
paths of dirt
There will come a time, very sooner or very later
when you pass
and I will grieve
tears will fall
I will shake
but will have known
love
will have spent time
together
together
With you
auguring
time together
timelessly
There will be a time very soon or very later
when you and I pass from each other
And in passing, we two then will pass
in to
into
The best of both worlds
There has come a time, after sooner. before later
When
I count my gifts and wealth
not in coin
but in lives I join
moments purloined
little joys
When that day came
That day that graced me
Embraced me
Interlaced me
I found what I’d always
Left unexplored
Felt what I’d always
Left untouched
Sensed what I’d always
Left unwhiffed
Relished what I’d always
Left unsavored
Noticed what I’d left
unseen
Heard songs I’d
Lost in the wind
Life, life!
Lost on me
Until that day
Today
That today which comes and goes
Sooner-later-now
Hiking with my friend Dave, Boise foothills, 5-6-26, photo by Michael Kroth
Lupine
Hiking with my friend Dave, Boise foothills, 5-6-26, photo by Michael Kroth
I would love to know your thoughts about grace. Here’s a question for you. Does it add or detract to add grace, and its qualities of beauty, the divine, and more to the ways in which we consider messy elegance at it’s best? Why?
I would value it - it would be an honor - if you would share this with others who might find it useful, and to add you to our list of subscribers if you would like to stay engaged with Profound Living and Messy Elegance.
Michael, Thank you for these most beautiful photos from your hike ! And your poem so lovely and so true although seems a bit sad to me. Perhaps that just comes with the reality of life and living? Living to me is all about Graced moments that are all "Gift". Do I cherish them? Notice them? Embrace them? I pray that I do not waste the Graced moments in my daily life. And yes, soon them may be all gone but hopefully not too soon! Blessings my friend!