I have thought about Grace, it’s meaning, examples, and how it relates to me for a couple of years. You might say I have a lot of time to think. And that I do. I make it. Time to consider is the most productive and useful part of my life. And none of us are getting any more of that.
I wanted to establish a firm understanding and definition of what Grace is. My years as a corporate executive taught me to have meaning, a process, feedback, and needs for a belief to happen. I got none of that on this one. In my desire to understand Grace, I asked around for a couple of years and got all kinds of answers. From lightning strikes to religious beliefs and intervention. I accepted none of these. It just didn’t ring my bell. I thought about going on a Thoreau like journey to Walden Pond to consider it, but I knew I wouldn’t have a place or family to return to if I did.
I read a lot, and if I had more time added to my life, that is high on my list of things I would do more.
Emily Dickinson wrote, “There is no frigate like a book.” In short, it means this:
There is no boat like a book. A book can take you anywhere.
I believe that sounds reasonable. In the past few months, I came across some things I read that started to piece together what I was looking for from my experiment with Grace.
Eckart Tolle said Grace is “acceptance of the unacceptable.” That made complete sense to me. Short and to the point and almost impossible. Just imagine for a minute how hard that is. By accepting the unacceptable, you consume and come to terms with anything and everything that has ever happened. Be it history’s greatest bad guys and atrocities to what might happen in the future. That’s a lot to digest.
I saw another group of words put together by a friend on Facebook. She said, “tears flow down,” as she described the pain of losing a daughter. I tried to marry the two thoughts together. I was getting somewhere and nowhere at the same time. It felt like another Buddhist struggle had been leveled on my chest. It turned out to be the defining moment of the definition of Grace for me.
So tears flow down and pool on your chest and over your heart – the place where everyone’s beats, beat together. The familiar beats to me represent “love.”
Grace is your heart and everything in it. Happy New Year. My best, Chris
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