In conscious consideration, I recognize that all of us have misfortunes in life. I am moved to compassion and love for my neighbors, my fellow man and woman as well as my siblings. I grieve for all around me. But unconsciously, a "there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I" thought appears. And with this thought I find myself with an expression of relief couched in the language of God's grace - divine action that starts or stops cancer, creates or prevents floods. Grace is an unexpected gift. Grace is free. It is not earned. The absence of grace is not a statement of moral depravity or anything moral at all. The experience of grace is not a statement about righteousness. Anything free, loving, and kind is grace. And it is abundant.
