{"id":110268,"date":"2020-12-18T12:35:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=110268"},"modified":"2020-12-18T12:58:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:58:20","slug":"living-in-grace-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/110268-living-in-grace-during-a-pandemic","title":{"rendered":"Living in Grace During a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \n
\n

For a number of years, I attended the Living in Grace Retreat<\/em> at Asilomar, in Pacific Grove California in mid-December. I then attended online every year it was offered, including times it was held in South America. This year, as the weather began to cool slightly here in Miami, I found myself reminiscing and even preparing inside for Living in Grace once again. Given our pandemic circumstances and realizing the Living in Grace Retreat<\/em> would not be happening this year, I looked within to where Living in Grace continues to be alive for me, now more than ever, and how I bring it forward in joy, comfort, and gratitude:<\/p>\n

When I venture to the grocery store early in the morning in the \u201cSafe Hours,\u201d I look into someone\u2019s eyes I\u2019ve never met and might never see again and love them as my family because we really are.<\/p>\n

I walk around my neighborhood daily in silence, feeling close to people whose names I often don\u2019t know, nodding and waving in recognition of our oneness.<\/p>\n

When my voice sounds too muffled from my mask, or I can\u2019t hear someone because their voice is too muffled for me to hear, I smile with my eyes in the tenderness and strength of precious silence I learned from Living in Grace.<\/p>\n

When I am free from my mask and at a safe distance, I offer a heartfelt \u201cGood Morning\u201d as I did when Silent Breaks ended and we shared aloud in relief and joy.<\/p>\n

As I remember following in the sand footprints of my fellow Living in Grace participants, I take small pieces of coral rock and inscribe hearts in the wet cement of newly poured sidewalks in my community.<\/p>\n

I spread my arms wide, feeling the tropical breeze against my skin, and envision myself strolling by the sand dunes, the Pacific Ocean\u2019s cold, misty wind awakening me as I listen to the voice of the Traveler through my headphones, then and now.<\/p>\n

I recall the physical closeness of over two hundred participants in a warmly lit retreat room, and I hug myself inside with the loving embraces we share so freely and confidently within.<\/p>\n

As I remember the uproars of joy and laughter over shared meals and delightful stories, I find myself smiling, even giggling as I prepare another meal in the safety and isolation of my shelter at home.<\/p>\n

When I hear the Sit-Down Music come over store speakers while standing in line to buy yet another Paint-by-Number for my self-care time, I smile inside, knowing I am tuning in to that divine presence that is always here, and I sway a bit, allowing my gratitude and joy to shine out into the world.<\/p>\n

When I am feeling sad and lonely, which can happen so easily these days, I recall Grace massages and cuddles, spontaneous hugs and dancing, and extended arms of compassion coming from seemingly nowhere right when I needed them most, and I am happy and grateful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks for being on this grace-filled journey with me.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From my heart to yours,<\/p>\n

Teri<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a number of years, I attended the Living in Grace Retreat at Asilomar, in Pacific Grove California in mid-December. I then attended online every year it was offered, including times it was held in South America. This year, as the weather began to cool slightly here in Miami, I found myself reminiscing and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,257],"tags":[996,2003,294,533],"class_list":["post-110268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ndh-archives","tag-divine-presence","tag-gratitude","tag-joy","tag-oneness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}