Grace.

Grace is a gift, a gift given to us by God, our Father. Grace is "holy", but Grace is not otherworldly in the way it works; it is right here, right now, working on us. Grace knows the harsh realities of us, of the way our world is, and Grace knows all the stuff that we carry around in our big coats with lots of little pockets of hurt, and yet it still covers us. Grace takes the blame, and wipes our slates clean, despite all that. But to say that Grace simply covers us is to sell the powers of Grace short. You see Grace is active. Grace sets to work, rolling up her sleeves and tucking her hair behind her ears. Grace finds the beauty in ugly, dirty things - Grace finds the beauty in us. Grace is much more than I could ever describe. What does Grace look like? Well, the power of Grace can be seen in the transformational power of the resurrection; what once hurt and left a mark has given birth to new life - but more tangibly, I guess, Grace kind of looks like that person you know who walks around accompanied by music; the world is still roaring around them, but it doesn't affect them so much anymore. Grace is here.

I used a personification of Grace purposefully; the name Grace is a girls name, but more powerfully, I think, it speaks of our own human propensity to take something huge - something that is completely mind-blowing - into something we can hold. In our everyday lives we do a disservice to the enormity of Grace. John Newton wrote "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, /That saved a wretch like me. /I once was lost but now am found, /Was blind, but now I see." But how often do we stop and think about those words, and really mull over the profound nature of those sentiments,"I once was lost but now am found, /Was blind, but now I see"? If the gift of Grace was really all we gave it credit for, all we built it up to be, would it have the power to turn a life around?

The subject of Grace has really challenged me in the past few weeks, and I am still struggling with it. I guess I'm just struggling to understand why I've been given it, because I certainly haven't done anything to deserve it. I think there lies the beauty of it though, we are given Grace despite ourselves. I'm trying to show Grace to others in my life and it is hard going a lot of the time, but I know in part it is helping me to understand something of what God has given me and I count myself blessed. I can only pray those around me experience a bit of what that means through me.