This week I mentioned to someone that I’ve not “met” anyone lately that I could write about.  My feet are just not on the ground with all my life changes and I assume that I’ve not been paying attention.  But just like that, I met someone.

I was at a local store looking for clothes for my boys and she was looking for her son.  She was petite and was about to check out in front of me when she said she needed to sit down.  I helped her to a chair and asked if she needed anything.  She was already taking things out of her purse and I could see medication.  She must have seen the worried look on my face, when she smiled at me and said that she’d be fine.  I didn’t feel good leaving, so I sat down with her.

Apparently, her diabetes was a bit difficult for her to manage and the doctors were working with her on a solution.  I asked how it affected her every day life and she said, that her disease was a gift – it was her grace.  It kept her grounded and focused and made her a better person.

I told her that my focus has been living with grace.  Finding ways to celebrate my life, my family and my surroundings as often as possible.  She said that her disease has forced her to look at how she can make others lives better because her doctors are making hers better.

That’s a serious commitment to life.

Her life plan has been to take her ordinary life and ordinary moments and make them extraordinary.  She uses only what she needs and shares the rest with anyone who will take it.  She says that even if she lives a shorter life, it’s about making a difference in the time you have, not needing more time to make a difference. Powerful.

There are a few young girls in my sons’ grade who both have had (and one still does) serious health issues.  But rather than focus on how difficult that’s made life for them – they found a way to give back.  I love watching them change their part of the world.

Why does it take something serious to get us to that point?  To see the grace in life?

We know that we won’t be remembered for what we owned, where we lived, or how much money we made; we will be remembered for what we gave, the memories we helped create, the way we treated others – even strangers – and the time we spent together.

She reminded me that life is about questioning everything, assuming nothing, listening carefully and speaking softly.  It’s about being the storyteller of your life and about making sure that story helps at least one person before you go.

I lucked out by meeting her yesterday.  She was my gift of grace in an otherwise ordinary day.

Peace.