Gift

Sometime, in the early morning hours of this first day of the New Year, my grandmother Claire made her final journey into the heart of Jesus.

She was my last living grandparent.

I am blessed to have known all my grandparents, and even several of my great-grandparents. Each knew me at and through different stages of my life, and I them. Of all, my grandma Claire saw and knew me as an adult, and we became friends in a way that I will always treasure. Her love and prayer: a gift. A grace.

This year of 2012 has been named in the Catholic calendar as the Year of Grace. I am perpetually amazed and even amused at how the Lord teaches and directs my thoughts and heart. They say that you need to hear something (like a fact or a name) at least seven times before it really sticks, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that once I begin to learn something, I hear it again and again, albeit in different shapes and forms. I am reminded that this is good stuff. And that I need to pay attention!

There are several things I am learning, but at present… right now… it is Grace.

I am reminded of this every time I set to write. In thinking of a title for my blog, Grace Upon Grace was all that seemed to fit. Some translations of John 1:16 (from whence the phrase comes) write of it as “gift upon gift”, speaking of the abundance that comes from God in Jesus Christ. Like all good gifts, its meaning and significance is something that draws me to continually unpack the goodness within.

I am grateful for the gift of sharing time, space, hearts. And even for the pain there is in goodbye.

Of all the treasures imaginable, I am discovering that God's grace comes in the strangest of packages.

And I am learning to receive.