A Spoonful of Grace

A member of Bridge St directed me toward a Facts and Argument piece in the Globe and Mail recently. She thought it was a lovely first-person story and there was also the hook that it came out of Belleville.

Elizabeth McLellan went back to school in her late thirties, training at Loyalist College to become a developmental services worker. During her training she worked with a elderly woman named Gloria, or Glo, who was non-verbal. One day while carefully feeding Glo she had what I might describe as a holy moment of service to another:

Glo held my gaze steadily, and for a moment I thought I saw something flash in her eyes. It was knowledge. It was connection. It was intimacy that I’d never known existed, before her. It was grace, and it humbled me more than anything else ever has, including the births of my children and the death of my brother. Grace from Gloria.

 

I knew then that to serve my fellow human beings and to tell their stories is both a privilege and my calling. For that moment of connection and truth and grace, I will always be grateful to Glo. Without a single word, she said everything that matters most.

 

I have experienced a deep sense of God's presence in settings where folk have "lost their senses" in terms of communication and cognition. Often it is in the acts of practical kindness from support workers or family members that there is a sense of the holy. Grace is one of those religious words which is often tossed around thoughtlessly but McLelland uses it well.

 

Here is the link if you would like to read Elizabeth's piece.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/finding-myself-and-my-calling-with-a-spoonful-of-grace/article24944281/