Absence of Grace

by Ann Warner

“I think the gift of life comes from God with the possibility for both joy and pain. None of us escapes without drinking a full measure of both.”

And letting me hold you. Kiss you. Will you never forget that, as well?

It was more like taming a wild thing than courting a woman, this back and forth with Clen.

“Every action we take or fail to take changes the world, Clen.”

“I won’t tell you I’ve never slept with a woman, but I can tell you, I’ve never slept with one opportunistically. Women aren’t the only ones who believe in true love, Clen.”

Clen tucked herself into Gerrum’s heart and his life as if there were an empty spot just waiting for her.

It was so easy loving Gerrum. Like free-falling through space without any fear of the landing. Sometimes she felt so light, it was hard to remember she was made of flesh and bones, until they made love. Then she was grateful for that flesh and those bones. For their delightful, delirious collision.

Worry not. As the Father cares for the lilies and the sparrows, He cares for you.

And could he be right about all those wrong turns being necessary for her to reach this right place? Or maybe they hadn’t been wrong turns after all. Because now, looking back, she was beginning to see that her life, through all its twists and turnings, ups and downs, had been illuminated by grace. A grace she’d thought absent.