Sunday Salon: Grace

 

Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved 

is that of overcoming self.  ~ Francis of Assisi

Last year I stumbled across One Word and OneWord365 and then throughout the year kept coming across writers and bloggers talking about their one word.  Kind of thought it interesting, but hokey at the time. The concept of focusing and working on embracing one word the whole year.   I couldn't even fathom narrowing the things I needed to focus on in life down to one word.  But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  After all, I had decided to write deliberately the last two years, then this year changed it to writing mindfully.   I thought about going with patience but you know what happens when you pray for patience. God starts throwing all this stuff at you to prove you already had the patience to begin with. 

I finally narrowed it down to grace.  What is Grace?   Grace is kindness. Grace is empathy. Grace is unconditional love. Grace is so many things.  I realized that I needed to work on having Grace - with myself, with James, with hubby.   You see I handle things in a certain way.  Whenever there is a problem, you figure out how to handle it, discuss it and then let it go.  Letting it go is the important part of this scenario. I don't like holding on to things.  Lesson learned, let's forget it and move on.  I've gotten quite good at that over the years.  And it seems the things I dislike the most, God likes to put in my path.  Both my guys - they are wired exactly the same. They never forget a thing, like to analyze stuff, plus they are very verbal  They have a need to talk about it and talk about it and rehash and discuss until they work it out - eventually.  James is now 13 and along with becoming a teenage is all the angst and emotions and uproar that goes along with it.  

Remember that old commercial way back when "Calgone take me away."   Sorry, doesn't work here.  I can't change them or their temperament,  it's how they are.  I can however, change me and how I respond.  Grace will be the key this year.  For myself, my guys and those in our lives.     

Happy New Year!