Grace

After spending a long weekend in prison with the Kairos prison ministry I have been thinking a lot on one word — Grace.  The more I think on it, the more I come to realize that I can’t really say I understand it.  I can’t really explain it, yet it is obvious that I am a recipient of it and that I depend on it a great deal.  The attempt at a definition or description that sticks most in my mind is one from Anne Lamott: “I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”

Grace – it accompanies us on the journey.  Sometimes I recognize it as my traveling companion, other times I am oblivious to it.  But each night we walked out of the prison and I head the gates close behind me, grace slapped me upside the head and got my attention.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll recognize it more easily.