Taking Grace

Because my darling daughter woke me at 5am (make that 4am with daylight savings) I am in need of Grace. Grace to not be angry. Grace to not be cranky. And Grace to forgive my sweet child for waking mommy at an unGodly hour on what I consider to be a Godly day. 

I ask for Grace often. And now - in this fuzzy-eyed sleep-deprived moment I seek it again. Ask and you shall receive. I opened my email to find these beautiful words delivered by one of my favorite bloggers, Beth Woolsey of Five Kids Is A Lot of Kids.

"So I sat in the sun with Lynn, basking while she told me her story, and we laughed and laughed and laughed cleansing laughs at the human condition which is our condition and at our temptation to watch for Grace to reveal only our darkness. Because this is what we do sometimes, isn’t it? We focus so much on doing things the Right Way, and on ridding ourselves of the dark, and on finding our shortcomings so we can tackle them and drown them and send them far, far away that we forget to listen for Joy. Or open ourselves to Love. Or watch for Beauty."

And even when we are tired, and cranky, and veering towards the inevitability of self-doubt, we are called to find Grace. Grace for ourselves and Grace for others. Grace is a salve that heals our souls, coating our hearts with kindness and filling them with love. I will seek Grace today.

"And the very Good News is that Love has a way of talking to us if we slow our self-flagellation long enough to listen. Because there is a still, small Voice on wind. And Grace ebbs and flows as steady as the waves, unearthing more treasure for us all the time."

Does this make sense to you today? Or tomorrow? Thank you Beth for the reminder. The full blog post can be found here. Read it. It will change your day.