Amazing grace

In my life, I have had to offer grace to others during the most difficult of times. Grace, forgiveness, the ability to turn the other cheek...I have done all those things in the "70 x 7" manner.

There have been days where I longed for grace to be returned to me; some sort of karmic exercise that the world has remembered my kind acts, and therefore pardons me if I lack some sort of judgement. It has been through grace I know I am where I am today. It is by grace I can walk through difficulties and believe I will be able to survive.

What is grace, really, other than the willingness to love others in spite of their shortcomings. As a mother, your child will test your patience, will power, love, and wisdom. Yet at the end of each day I cannot imagine a world without my children. I love them for their idiosyncrasies rather than by them being perfect. Their imperfections become perfect reflections due to love. The sleepless nights, teething, moments of random crying and diaper changes are long gone, but the need to offer my love is stronger than ever before. The need to show and demonstrate my grace is at an ever increasing need.

Much is the same for others I love, or I have loved. When I think to all the times I have offered someone grace at the moment it was not only inconvenient, but broke my heart, I would be a very wealthy woman. The moments of disappointment, overshadowing, feeling less than if feeling like I was forgotten all forgotten in the end due to grace.

In loving someone, you discover what it is to wish their happiness over yours, their comfort and strength over yours. You realize you would do anything to see a smile, to hear a laugh, to feel their touch. It is in loving someone else, demonstrating these attributes, that you learn to release, let go, and give your all. When you are able to do this, it may not always be returned. But given the right moments, the right person, and the right time - you are doing this together. Amazing grace, to overlook someone's flaws and love them anyway. Amazing grace, to know the flaws are there, but still believe the good overshadows the bad.