Grace

We had quite a lively discussion yesterday morning as our Thursday study group continued to tease apart the story of the Prodigal Son. As discussions often do, ours became wide-ranging and a bit off track. At one point, Elizabeth asked us to consider God's grace....what grace means to us. That question brought back the very clear memory of a similiar discussion several years ago in a Methodist adult Sunday School class. The topic was grace and the workbook we were using explained the three types of grace: justifying, sustaining and prevenient. This made made no sense to me and actually pushed me onto my current path of making sense of God in simpler ways and by simpler definitions. I Googled grace this morning and found even more confusing defintions of it: actual grace, common grace, free grace, irresistible grace. Too complicated for my simple mind! So, I ponder....what does grace mean to me? My answer: grace is my awareness of God's presence in my life. It can be seeing this cross in Cenevieres and remembering God. It can be hearing the bells calling villagers to Mass and remembering God's call to me. It can be that feeling of contentment as I snuggle into bed at night knowing that once again God has blessed me this day with family and friends, home and health, warm sunshine and green growing things. I am aware that His grace surrounds me always; that all I am and all I have comes from Him. And that I don't have to earn His blessings...to have His grace in my life, I only have to be aware that I am His.