Do you know grace or does it know you?

Out of nowhere, I remind myself of grace during difficult times.
Grace?! What even is that?
For many it has religious connotations, a dusted word used at church and nowhere else.
I associated it with dancers and elegant movements, but what is grace in difficult times?
Does grace only exist when we least feel like it?

grace /ɡreɪs/ noun
– courteous good will
– unmerited mercy
– willingness to be fair and honest

A friend who a week ago shouted down the phone at me recently apologised.
Grace, I reminded myself, knowing how hard this must have been for him.
For me, grace is not taking it personal, seeing the bigger picture, remaining calm.
It’s forgiving without a second thought of whether they deserve it.
It’s remembering how we used to feel in similar situations.

Why do we need grace?
It is unexpected magic, illuminating everything.

Like hope, grace is a form of planning.
Like gratitude, grace is an action.
It’s inspiring and gives instead of takes.
It’s hard to think of a situation where grace was the wrong choice.
While soft, grace is not stupid. We do not forget and we do not ignore.
But we try not to judge.

“If I’m not showing grace…
have I forgotten the grace I’ve been shown.”
– John F. Macarthur Jr.

When shown grace, we feel utterly and completely seen.
Not for what we can do for others, not for how much they like us, but as humans.
And it’s by remembering the stillness of the forest that calmed me without demands,
the endless blue skies that swallowed me whole, strangers who took me in with smiles,
it’s with all these things that I hand back grace to others.
For grace is a nomad, it does not sit still but demands to travel from person to person.