On grace

We all need a little grace. But we need it in different ways.

Sometimes, we need a little grace in many areas. We’re doing generally fine, but there are a lot of ragged edges.

Other times, we we’re doing pretty well overall, but we could use some grace in one particular area in life.

Like so many things, personal difficulty and suffering can be unequally distributed. They can exist as a permeating layer, and they can exist in small, concentrated places.

The principle here is not in how we accept grace (though we’d do well to remember self-compassion) but in how we extend grace to others. Do so in a broad, benefit-of-the-doubt, generous way. Our job is not to litigate the need; it’s to give freely. And as we do, the reservoir replenishes itself.

It is the better way.