Welcome to Made for Grace . . . which is just what I want to write about today. What is grace? Short and sweet, grace is when something good happens that you didn’t earn and maybe don’t even deserve.
Grace is when you rear-end someone at a stoplight and that person comes back to your car with concern on their face instead of anger and asks, “Hey, are you okay?”
Grace is when you let down a friend, but your friend hears and accepts your apology.
Grace is when you fail to show up when you should, but your child loves you anyway.
Grace is when you want to quit, but you feel compelled to try again.
Grace is there even when you do something truly awful and someone shows up to help you get back on track.
When I was three years old, I wanted a tricycle, so I asked my grandparents to get me a tricycle. I had reason to expect that they would give me a tricycle as they spoiled me rotten, but it never occurred to me when they drove up to my house, opened the trunk of their car, and brought out my new tricycle, that it would be the biggest and most beautiful tricycle I had ever seen. I wanted a tricycle so badly - you might even say I felt I needed a tricycle - but what I received that day was so much more than the average tricycle. It was a tricycle beyond my wildest dreams. It was such a significant gift that to this day, I still remember exactly how I felt when I saw it.
Grace is like that tricycle. It is such a lavish, unexpected gift that we never forget its beauty and wonder. We don’t have to do something or be some particular something to earn grace. We don’t have to be qualified, pass a test, act a certain way, or be “good” in order to receive grace. We don’t even have to deserve it. For no apparent reason, grace shows up, and the feeling is like receiving the best darn tricycle in the entire neighborhood.
I think there are three different kinds of grace: Illuminating Grace, Releasing Grace, and Enticing Grace.
Illuminating Grace is grace that is with us at all times, grace that goes before all we experience in life to prepare the way for us. This is the type of grace we often see when we look back. We revisit the past and see that somehow, even in our darkest moments, grace came to us, lighting our path and showing us the next step to take. Illuminating Grace, like all grace, is a gift in the purest sense of the word because we don’t even realize it’s there at work in our lives.
Releasing Grace is grace that forgives us and releases us from our past mistakes so we are free to live in wholeness and well-being. This is the type of grace we’re most familiar with. When we realize we’ve done something wrong and ask for forgiveness, we feel released from the mistake we’ve made and are better able to pick up and go on with our lives. We are no longer defined by the past, and that freedom releases us to go into the future, assured that who we are is exactly what we need to be.
Enticing Grace is grace that encourages us to live better lives and to love others more fully. Once we are released from our past and go forward as the persons we were meant to be, enticing grace calls us to make a difference in the lives of those around us and in our world. Enticing Grace lends urgency to our passions and calls us to action. Suddenly, the relationships in our lives that were zapping our energy don’t seem to warrant our attention as much any more. Likewise, relationships that we’ve overlooked, those that appear on our path each day, sometimes take on a meaning and vibrancy of their own. As we begin to connect with others who are drawn to us based on who we really are, we begin to see connections that can shape our lives, our communities, and our world. Enticing Grace is a gift, but this is a gift we are aware of and choose to practice. It takes commitment to practice grace, and we are not always successful. But if we stay true to our commitment, ultimately we will live lives full of grace that bring grace to others. Ultimately, we will be stronger than ever before.
Pause for a moment and think of the times you’ve received grace. What did it feel like? Then think of the times you’ve offered grace. What did that feel like? Grace is a powerful and wonderful thing. Celebrate when it comes to you, then pass it on to those around you. What would our world look like if we all lived in a state of grace?
Join us next Sunday as we use the Japanese art of Kintsugi to art journal about grace.