The matter of grace has been popping up in my path for months now, and to be honest, it's a bit annoying. It shows up in songs, conversations, on billboards -- everywhere -- in the most random places and at the most poignant times. This has been happening for months.
I was raised in the church, so my relationship to grace is based on what I was taught inside that context. That, or the kind of grace you associate with a ballet dancer. But what does grace truly mean? More importantly, what does it mean to you and to me?
Instead of looking it up in the dictionary, I decided to start with a list of synonyms to get a better grasp on things. Here are some of the words that are outside of the normal way I view grace and the ones that specifically grabbed my attention:
fluidity of movement
fluency
flow
So, I extrapolated that grace is a function of letting go. Perhaps perpetual letting go is what they mean when people refer to being "in a state of grace". A state of flow. A state of fluidity of movement. A state of not remaining stuck and stagnant. A state of allowing.
If I am floating down a river, not resisting the current, and with no expectation of where I end up and no demands on how it plays out, then I am in flow. I can see how this perpetual motion of flow could easily look graceful -- like the embodiment of grace.
Grace is a possibility for me, not just a natural way of being, largely because I am not inclined to let go unless forced. I am tenacious and stubborn and very intentional. I make plans and the Universe needs to follow them, goddamn it!
*Ducks potential lightning strike*
To be completely honest, I have been working to shift this energy in myself. I have previously been that girl who needs to be thrown in the river and half drowned before I would decide to let go and float. Nowadays, I am much more likely to at least walk to the shoreline and dip a toe in. Then, if I am procrastinating, the Universe may decide to give me an opportune shove.
I think I just always assumed that grace was something you were born into and not something that you worked on, cultivated and grew. Now that I know differently, I thought I would share, just in case you were looking to cultivate a little more grace in your life too.
"Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."
- Eckhart Tolle