The grace of a clear mind

Caring for my mom makes me increasingly grateful for a clear mind. Here on the cusp of fifty years old, I am in some senses at the height of my powers. What I have lost in physical ability has been compensated for by patience. What I have lost in mental agility has been compensated for by judgment. Watching her decline, I understand that my mental clarity is today’s grace: it is not mine by right, and will not last forever. It may be replaced in time by other graces and, knowing the love at the heart of the cosmos, probably will be. But the graces of future days cannot be known to me now, except by rumor. In those moments when I look into my own future with anxiety, I remind myself that this is part of the unfolding. Sufficient to the day is the good thereof.