Having just come off of the Thanksgiving holiday and having recently spent time reflecting on the things for which I am thankful I, of course, feel a renewed sense of gratitude for the obviously meaningful things in life; home, family, provision, country. I am very grateful for those things and, unfortunately, far too often take them for granted although I try to remember to be thankful for every little detail of life.
I had one of those little ‘detail of life’ moments recently and I admit, as silly and simple as it was, it brought me joy and thankfulness for the way I sometimes get cut a break even when I don’t deserve it.
Last summer I collected a number of books from the library that I planned to read or scan to see if I could use them for my dissertation and, if so, if I needed to purchase them or simply borrow from the library. I try to buy as few as possible due to the cost involved but in some cases I know I’ll use a book extensively and it makes more sense to purchase it.
Such was the case with Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Snappy title and all, I knew I needed this book in my collection. But, I had recently resigned from my full-time job and money was feeling a little tight so I hadn’t made any effort to buy the book, just made a note to myself that I should.
Late in the summer I got up early on a Saturday morning and took my nice steaming cup of coffee and oh so exciting Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis book outdoors to sit in the porch swing by our pond with the pretty little waterfall . It was a beautiful sunny morning. Birds and squirrels did their bird and squirrel things. The sun was warm but not hot. In all it felt pretty idyllic. Later Steve joined me and we sat reading for a good bit of the morning. When we went indoors to refill our coffee we decided to get around and go do some errands we had planned for the day. Shortly thereafter we left the house, ran our errands and were out for several hours.
During our time away from the house cloud cover began to build to the west. It built to the point of bursting and when the clouds drifted over our house they opened up and dumped a doozey of a rain and hail storm. By the time we arrived at home again the storm had all but finished, the temperature had dropped considerably and evening was settling in.
Much later, when it was dark, Steve went out in the backyard for some reason and when he came in he was carrying the Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis book I had carelessly left in the backyard. He carried it by one corner and all the way in the house the book produced a steady drip of rainwater. All attempts at drying the book failed and I finally resorted to just letting it air dry knowing that I would now be buying the book in its waterlogged, crinkled and slightly musty smelling condition.
Of course, I had planned to buy the book used and at the lowest price possible. I dreaded talking with anyone at the library to find out how much I would have to pay for my forgetfulness believing that I would pay top dollar for damaging a book owned by the state of Colorado! I renewed it until I couldn’t renew anymore and finally, one day last week I went into the library to see how much I was going to pay. The answer, much to my surprise was $40! Forty dollars? I expected to pay far more than that! But indeed, the book came from outside the library district and for some reason the flat fee for replacing an out of district book is $40. So, I happily paid for it and came home to search for what it would have cost me if I hadn’t let it sit outside in a drenching rain storm.
The least expensive copy I could find was $140! My irresponsibility had saved me $100! Now granted, the pages don’t exactly bend and it doesn’t lie flat but still…I saved a lot of money with that deal! The content remains the same even if it smells a little bit when I open it!
So, in my review of things for which I am thankful, I added that sometimes when my own actions are foolish or irresponsible and I don't deserve it, I am cut a break. I didn’t want to gloss over that because I don’t think it is insignificant.
I think that is what we call grace.
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