Remember grace

When once our grace we have forgot, nothing goes right.

William Shakespeare

Saying Grace

Saying a table prayer was a ritual that was part of my young years. It was something I accepted as one part of all the other family routines. I missed the real significance until some time during my adulthood. A few years ago, I realized what this small pause in the day offered. It's a time to stop, reflect, and be grateful. Saying grace is receiving grace.

Luck

She didn't believe in luck any more. She believed in grace.

paraphrased from the book Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon

Solitary Walk

There was no sound except the crunch of snow under my feet and the occasional brush of wind through the tops of the trees. There was evidence of animals having walked before me: the tracks of birds leaving a short trail before they flew away, deer tracks that followed the road and then bounded away into the forest, unknown tracks of animals that were partly covered by last night's snowfall. It was a solitary walk in grace.

Grateful heart

"Grace is available for each of us every day - our spiritual daily bread - but we've got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow."

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Lost is Found

A couple of weeks ago I lost some gloves. In my thoughts I retraced my steps on that day of errands and vowed to check the lost and found of all my stops. Amazingly, at the post office today, the nice postal clerk handed me my gloves, safe and sound. It was a small thing, but made me giddily happy. Even insignificant acts let me know that I live in a state of grace.

Kindness and Grace

I choose to rise up out of that storm and see that in moments of desperation, fear, and helplessness, each of us can be a rainbow of hope, doing what we can to extend ourselves in kindness and grace to one another. And I know for sure that there is no them.. there's only us.

Oprah Winfrey

Belly Laugh

A good all-consuming belly laugh is worth more than all medicine one can buy, but the grace that brings me the friends to laugh with is worth more than all the world to me. When I visit with my friends, and we laugh and laugh about what seems like nothing, I know we have connected at a higher level. The connection between good friends who can laugh together is like no other. It binds us, shields us, and heals us.

Pet Love

A friend who came to care for my pets while I was away said, "I could never be lonely in your house." When I enter the door after being gone, the "gang" starts up a clamoring welcome. The dog meets me at the door with a doggie grin, and my three birds chatter their birdie greetings. I greet each one of them, and the love among us fills my home. Pets provide unconditional love, asking nothing in return except for us to be there.

Dark to White

Yesterday's dark clouds that swallowed the evening sunset brought new snowfall today. A new covering of white fluff freshens everything it touches and frosts the trees. It is a cleaner, quieter world that I walk in today.

Into a Cloud

I was shown the gift of an amazing sight as I was driving toward a beautiful sunset this evening. I pulled off the road to watch as the sun and clouds battled between daylight and twilight. Suddenly, a gray hazy cloud appeared across the entire horizon and began to swallow the sun. The fog was all around the sun, and the sun kept peaking through an ever shrinking opening until finally it was swallowed up. At that very spot where I pulled my car off the road to watch, the sunny day turned to evening. Surely I was existing in grace to have been given such a show of nature.