Grace

Grace. Oil on Canvas. 24x36

Last week I was having a really rough time of things - a bout of depression that snuck through my defenses. One morning I was pulling out of our neighborhood onto a busy street and waiting for an opening between cars.  A car pulled up behind me and quickly lost his patience and started honking at me. I burst into tears and pulled out as soon as I could. In that moment, I felt angry and hurt and disappointed. 

When I thought about this later, what struck me was not how the man had behaved - he was just a bit impatient and irritated - or even my response - which had much more to do with my current emotional state than his horn-honking action. What struck me was how often I've been in his shoes - getting frustrated with the slow person in the checkout line, raging when someone did something stupid in traffic, judging the mom with the out of control kids.  And the truth is, just like the man behind me, we have no idea what people are going through in their lives. 

We see only a snapshot - a tiny 10 second clip of a much longer film.

Imagine how much kinder we could all be, if we just take a second to wonder.  I wonder if she's having a really hard day. I wonder if he's got ADHD like me and his brain is really acting up today. I wonder if she is beating herself up inside for snapping at the cashier like that. I wonder if his kids didn't sleep a wink last night and he and his wife have been fighting all morning. 
I wonder if that guy behind me was stressing out because he was running late for the third time this week and he really needs this new job to work out.
The truth is, we never know, but its so important to remember that every single person out there is a whole human being just like us. And we're all just doing the best we can with what we've got.

Grace is about extending a little forgiveness, a little acceptance, a little love and humanity. We all need a little grace.  Feeling the warmth of the sun on your face like the beautiful woman in this painting, feeling the warmth in your heart, and sending it back out.  Breathe love in, breathe love out.

My invitation to you this month is to practice giving grace wherever you can. To your loved ones, to strangers, to the other humans in the other cars on the road, and to yourself. Don't forget yourself. Lord knows, I am so good at beating myself up and I get to remind myself, over and over and over, that I am human too.  

And please know my friend, that you are loved today, exactly as you are. 

xoxo

Becca