Soul Blossoming A to Z: G is for Grace

Grace: a. unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.

b. a virtue coming from God.

c. a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance

Origin: from Latin gratia: favor, charm, thanks

from Latin gratus: pleasing, grateful, akin to

from Sanskrit grnāti: he praises (from Merriam Webster dictionary)

Mahalia Jackson singing Amazing Grace

Not much more to say than this (but I will say a little more).

Day 7 of the A to Z blogging challenge

Today is -day. And my G is grace.

What is grace?

I can’t really answer that question, but I’ll share some thoughts about it, anyhow. I shared a poem by Goethe about grace in my post last week on breathing.

Wendell Barry said

It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

I defined “grace” above. Unmerited divine assistance. It’s difficult for someone who always tries to do the right thing to accept that assistance can come without merit. But then I stop and think what a miracle it is that we are here at all. That we were born and live our lives on this amazing earth.

Ann Lamott said

Making so much of it work is the grace of it, and not being able to make it work is double grace. Grace squared.

Sometimes I feel struck dumb by the wonder of it all. Lamott writes about the three basic prayers–help, thanks, and wow! Like I said, I’m not sure that I know what grace is, but when I feel that sense of “wow,” when I feel that, as imperfect as I am, I’ve been given gifts from the spiritual world, that is what grace feels like to me.

And since arriving here in Colorado a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been feeling that a lot. Every morning, I wake up and look out my window at the mountains–and I am overwhelmed by the beauty of it. I can’t quite believe it’s real. Going for a walk and seeing a prairie dog village amazes me. I also saw a fancy rooster in a tree. I know these are all little things, but they evoke such a feeling of gratitude in me, such a feeling that I have received a gift and I don’t know why, but I appreciate it.

A poem by Pattiann Rogers

Another lovely gift I received was attending a poetry-writing workshop this past Saturday morning with Pattiann Rogers. I felt very inspired. Here’s a poem she read to us. It’s not exactly about grace, but it evokes that feeling for me.

Place and Proximity

I’m surrounded by stars. They cover me
completely like an invisible silk veil
full of sequins. They touch me, one by one,
everywhere—hands, shoulders, lips,
ankle hollows, thigh reclusions.

Particular in their presence, like rain,
they come also in streams, in storms.
Careening, they define more precisely
than wind. They enter, cheekbone,
breastbone, spine, skull, moving out
and in and out, through like threads,
like weightless grains of beads
in their orbits and rotations,
their ritual passages.

You can read the rest here

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Until tomorrow–xoxo