The Christian meaning of grace is “the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.”
I have always struggled with the notion of this grace. Is there a way to feel it, quantify it or physically see it? Do we ask for it or what do we need to do to initiate it? Is it a miracle? I finally came to understand grace during the time of my father’s death. My siblings and I spent his last weeks taking care of him and were enveloped by a very palpable energy of love which had the five us, usually so contentious, working in harmonious unity to make his death as peaceful as possible.
In the weeks that followed I looked back on this period and realized that this must be grace for through my dad’s death we had experienced many blessings of being present to each other in ways we never had before.
I am once again looking for grace. This time to get through the craziness of this period in our world. I now know what it feels like and that it is real. Still not sure how grace happens but I suspect it has a lot to do with love and holding it unconditionally in your heart. Even if I don’t always feel the certainty of Christian grace perhaps, I can at least hope for the common everyday grace of poise, courtesy and politeness to make a difference.