On the way to the tutoring center I volunteer at I pass a church with a board that reads GRACE IS LOVING PEOPLE MORE THAN THEY DESERVE. The board isn't huge, and it's on the wrong side of the street, but it catches my eye every time. It leads me to think about grace for a few minutes, and what it means to me, but then I forget the sign is there until I pass it and it catches my eye again.

I love the word grace. It's so...joyful. It's a word that, in my mind, happens to capture perfectly what it is. Although, I'm the last person who could accurately describe it to anyone in words. I'm not religious, so I don't buy into any sort of churchy definition. I'm not particularly concerned with the origin of grace, or the question of did Jesus come up with it or what. That's the kind of stuff that showed up in a Google search, and it all seemed beside the point to me. Like, Really??? But tell me about grace. My sister describes it as loving elegance, which is a very beautiful way to think about it. I tend to feel that it's a divine love--not in bible terms, but in spiritual and human terms--that bestows mercy, guidance, and goodness on each of us every day. Sometimes we're mindful enough to see it, and sometimes not. But, regardless, it's always there. Understanding that makes me incredibly happy.