grace

Today, I'm thankful for grace.

Grace because even when I stumble (ahem, no post yesterday), I get back up and try again the next day.

Grace because God lets the little things slide, and so should we.

Grace because we're all human and we all make mistakes.


My favorite story about grace comes from my experience of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education/chaplaincy internship) a few years ago. My son Jack was just turning a year old, so I was still a new mother, and I was scattered. On that day, we were supposed to have a list of goals and objectives we'd come up with for our own personal and professional growth during the internship. We were supposed to have it typed up and copied so that each person in the group would have a copy.

I forgot. It just completely slipped my mind.

I sat there, thinking how I could cover for myself. I could handwrite the goals and hope that I'd be called on after break so I'd have time to run copies. I could jot notes and hope for an extra-long break so I could type them up and make copies. I could dig a hole in the ground and crawl on in.

Eventually, I just admitted defeat. I spoke up, confessed that I had completely forgotten to complete the assignment, and the director said, simply and kindly, "That's okay, you'll go next week."

I was dumbfounded. No guilt, no lecture, no disappointed-eyes. Just grace. It was wonderful. It was an example to me of how I want to treat others.

Thank God for grace.

"Thankful" image from mtsofan on flickr.

"Swedish Proverb" image from http://jennyanddukefamily.blogspot.com/