It's All About Grace...

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost and now I'm found, was blind bit now I see. 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved...

As you read these words you can probably hear the song being sung in your head. I have to be honest, this has never been one of my favorite songs. However, it was my grandmother Selma's favorite. As a small child I would sit next to her in church as she sang this song with great reverence. I knew there was something important about it but never really knew what it was. Many years later I sat in that same church and sang this song with great reverence at her funeral. Again, I knew there was something I was not understanding. I have spent much time thinking about it...not the song as much as the idea of grace.

Our year long theme at church this year is Amazing Grace. Everything will revolve around this idea. And So I had to ask myself, just what is so amazing about grace? According to Webster it is unmerited Divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. When I think about this meaning I can't help but think that alone is pretty amazing! It is true that you will often hear that grace is a free gift from God. It is available to all and does not have to be earned. It is given for the sacred purpose of spiritual renewal to each one of us. I believe it comes to us a peace, joy, understanding at the most unlikely times. So if grace is a Divine and Holy gift given by our Creator...how do we extend it out beyond ourselves....

That is what I want to keep learning about...how to extend grace to others. Sometimes I have trouble putting into words how exactly it is we can extend this Divine gift to those around us. I have a friend who has taught me more about this amazing gift than I could have learned alone. She has taught me what I have come to know about grace

~It comes in the softness of a persons eyes when they speak

~It is not in the words as much as in the spaces between the words

~Sometimes it is no words at all

~It is the unconditional love held for another

~In times of difficulty it is saying, bless you and change me

In essence it is not so much about what is done as what is felt that describes grace. It is a state of being that comes from the heart and enters the very essence of another person with love and compassion. That is what my friend and my grandmother Selma taught me.. just how amazing it really is and how we each can show each other the essence of grace.

Grace to you,

Sandy