There, but for the Grace of God, Go I

I remember hearing this once, and it stuck me a being incredibly profound and at the time incredibly humbling and kind. It was in relation to a work colleague, talking about another work colleague, who had lost their son via suicide.  His comment was 'it could have happened to any one of us, any one of our children could have taken the same steps.... but for the Grace of God’.

I have remembered this, and have used it on many occasion, quietly to myself. Although it stirs up a slight sense of guilt (‘Thank God it is not me’), it also rouses an incredible sense of gratitude. How fortunate am I, to not be going through what this person is experiencing. How fortunate that I have shelter, a warm bed, a loving family. How fortunate am I that I have not experienced what this person is going through.

No matter what happens in life, there is always someone worse off. And although in difficult times, it can be hard to be sympathetic to someone else's plight, if you are witness to something which happens to someone very close to you (a sudden death for example) it soon lifts you out of whatever funk you may have thought you were in, and brings you to the realisation that for that moment, for that time, you are the one who is lucky, and you are the one that can provide support to the person who is suffering at this time.

"There but for the Grace of God, Go I", is not something that is uttered lightly. It is uttered at the deepest and darkest moments when we witness catastrophe in someone else's life. It's an identification with them, it's an understanding that what 'they' are experiencing, you or I could also be experiencing. It causes a deep reflection, it promotes immediate compassion and it resounds deeply within.

I'm sure we have all had those moments. We hear of a loss, a tragedy, we see something on television, or we have a very close call ourselves. It brings us out of our daydream, out of our slumber and awakens the realisation in all of us how fragile our life, our happiness and our wellness can be.

Perhaps it is something to remind us, once again, to be grateful. As imperfect as our life can be at times, as sorrow-filled as we might feel at times - we can be humbly thankful for what we may have avoided in life.