I know you probably think I’m going to talk about the biblical meaning of grace. And so you aren’t disappointed, I’ll touch on it briefly. Grace is undeserved acceptance and love received from another. Although the biblical words for "grace" are used in a variety of ways, the most characteristic use is to refer to an underserved favor granted by a superior to an inferior. When used of divine grace toward mankind, it refers to the underserved favor of God in providing salvation for those deserving condemnation. In the more specific Christian sense it speaks of the saving activity of God which is manifested in the gift of His Son to die in the place of sinners.
But that’s not what I wanna talk about today. For the purposes of today’s discussion, this will be our working definition: elegance and beauty of movement or expression.
This is one of those interesting cases where the exception apparently proves the rule. Let me relate to you my recent experiences with ungrace.
Yesterday, Ben and I went and saw Mr. and Mrs. Iyer at the Indian Film Festival at SMU. I had never seen an Indian film before and it was actually a pretty good movie. It’s really interesting getting a glimpse into other cultures and seeing things from other perspectives. Afterwards, we had a little Indian food. We weren't sure what it was. It looked like a juicy, orange funnel cake. Ben said he thought it was fried juice. Anyway, it was very sweet and it made me wish I had a glass of milk to drink with it.
The movie was shown in a fairly small theater on the 3rd floor of Dallas Hall. It’s a stately sort of building, with a seal of some sort on the floor and a very ornate dome ceiling. As you can see from the picture below, as you leave the building, you walk down a number of stairs before getting to the ground level.
Out in front there is a large grass field. It was a nice day, so people were out just lounging and playing with their kids, etc.
I started walking down the stairs, in my cute skirt and heels I wore to church. And then I bit it big time. I completely fell flat on the ground. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I fell DOWN the stairs. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t twist my ankle or anything. I’m just walking and then I’m on the ground. Real fast. Oddly enough, I remember thinking as I fell, “Wow, this is gonna hurt.”
I didn’t damage myself too bad. A few bruises and a skinned up shin. Oh, and a few sore muscles in my side and arm. I tried to take a picture of my leg so I could post it, but the picture didn’t turn out very well. Oh, well, it’s probably better that way. Luckily, the most injured part of myself is invisible – my ego is currently very humble… Ben thought it would be funny to preach at me: Pride comes before a fall. But I’ll just blame it on that dang fried juice.
Luckily I learned somewhere along the way to laugh at myself, so I sat there on the stairs and laughed hysterically for a few minutes. Then I took my shoes off and walked back to the car barefoot. If only there had been a hole I could have crawled in between the stairs and my car…
So, apparently, in addition to humility, I also need to learn grace. But at least I have one thing going for me: at least I can elegantly eat french fries... :)
(I did figure out what the Indian food was. It's called Jalebi.)
3 comments:
I think that your readers are going to think very low of the person who preached at you. Especially since there is no context to his comment. If he said that while you were on the steps, than a curse be on his family, what a lack of compassion. If there is a broader context under which that comment was made, it seems unfair then to represent him in such a manner. Perhaps the reader will extend grace to him.
You know, I actually thought of that. In the end, I decided that most of my readers have been around for a while and have discovered that if I wish to portray someone in a less than stellar light, I refer to them in an ambiguous way, like "NNF." The reason I included it in this narration was to let my readers share in Ben's moment - getting to tease a perpetual teaser. For those in doubt, I will confess that the comment in question came during the fits of hysterical laughing I continued to have long after I had regained my feet. No public ridicule intended...
Jan,
That has become one of my biggest fears, since I now walk down 8 flights every night. See, but I always thought that those things really only happened in Spanish soap operas, when the evil character loses her baby after a bad fall, and then pretends to still be pregnant to keep her clutches in the annoyingly loyal bafoon guy.
I'm glad to know that you can survive it with minor physical injuries...
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