Finding Grace...

I love the concept of grace. I even love the word. Without Gods grace I wouldn’t be here writing this. It is His absolutely unmerited love. Dervishes will sometimes say: “the Baraka is with me”. That is to say the very presence of God is with me, blessing me. Some say things like: “I feel the breath of God” or “the hand of God”. And, one of my favorites: “I feel God smiling on me.” These are those moments in life when we feel connected to the Creator of the universe Himself in our actions. These are moments of grace.

To say that an athlete is graceful might be to say that they are so connected to some universal force that they move in complete harmony with it. You might say grace is to ‘Dance with God’. In those special moments we can feel our connection, our place, in the grand design of the universe. In those moments all is as it should be.

I have found Gods grace in His forgiveness. I have felt His grace in the sunlight on my face. I’ve seen it in the smiling faces of little children. I've even felt Gods grace in the death of a good friend.

I began to write this about getting older and all I that came to mind was grace. We know from the time we’re children that we’ll get older. We know, though most of us do our best not to think about it, that we will die someday. We know those things but they don’t really ‘sink in’ until after about 40. Then, the reality of aging and our mortality, the inevitability of death, begin to change the way we see things.

It is depressing at first, realizing that we have fewer years ahead of us than behind us. To grow as human beings we have to come to peace with that fact. We have to find the grace in it. God won’t abandon us in this either.

As they grow older, some people find new ways to see life through the eyes of their children and grandchildren. Those of us that don’t have children can still see life through the eyes of children. Children are such a blessing in so many ways! Children are full of grace.

I have found a kind of grace in creating too. Bringing something new and beautiful into the universe is so exhilarating! I have an art professor that says it is ‘expressing’ or pressing something out of our hearts. That’s where creating comes from. I’m new to the art world and I’m still searching for exactly what it means to me, but I certainly appreciate his thoughtful perspective on it. He’s a remarkably creative man and a brilliant sculptor. When I first saw his art I was convinced that that was why he is on earth! Such grace!

I only know of one way to feel more like God than in creating and that’s in forgiving. Forgiving involves knowing someone’s worst, and still loving them. What could give us more insight into God than forgiveness? In forgiving and in being forgiven we experience real grace.

I’m only beginning to understand how all these aspects of grace are connected. My heart only knows that grace is at the core of their connection. Grace flows from Love. And Love flows from God...