Where Grace Abounds

This month I am reflecting on the meaning of the word “grace”. November, as the start of a several-month-long season of festivities, is always a terrific time to consider gratefulness and abundance in our lives. It's a time of thanksgiving and drawing close to community. This season, my focus is on expanding my understanding of grace and incorporating it intentionally in my everyday interactions with others.

In my workplace I notice that this word is used rather liberally often in the context of forgiveness and gentleness with others who are learning and making mistakes along the way. I am surprised to hear the use of the word in what seems a casual, almost vernacular way in this environment and by a younger generation. And this is what got me to thinking about grace through a lens of the collective unity.

I embarked on exploring my own understanding and application of grace. My orientation comes from a Biblical interpretation where grace is a spiritual gift bestowed upon the human flock. An unconditional gift of virtue to serve as a blanket of comfort and shield of strength. Almost a deeply personal experience separated from the rest of the world, even though it is extended to all. Grace serves as a beacon of hope and shelter in difficult times. As I reflect on how it is interpreted by my colleagues, it appears to also serve as an executable verb to enhance relationships with others. And isn’t this the very crux of most spiritual endeavors?!? Novelist Anne Lamott brings us a wonderful quote about the “……mystery of grace…..it meets us were we are but does not leave us where it found us”.

November provides a host of opportunity to meet others where they are at. It is a great transformative month to reflect with gratitude and abundant love toward our fellow humans. How can we embody grace in our everyday lives and in those everyday encounters? We can remember to be gentle with everyone and ourselves. Our journeys are diverse and difficult as that is the nature of life; the nature of grace – a spirit-led virtue – is to comfort and encourage along that journey. We are transformed as we demonstrate and share grace and so are the people around us. May you find blessings of gentleness and grace throughout November and this season of giving.