Where is the sweet sound of grace?
Not just an act of grace or simple gratuity
But a perfumed, pervasive grace note
Adding lightness to life’s grinding song of lament.
Screens filled with sadness
The media serving dark news with our dinner
Falling like a weighted blanket on conversations
Loaded words driving people apart
Sowing distrust between us
Insidious weeds that choke conversations
Virus-like stealing our health
Our ungrace sucks our very life
And is exhausting.
Grace defies explanation
Best conveyed in looks and hugs
Gifts or choosing to be silent
Acts of love that cross divides
Costing the giver dearly
But in acceptance are free.
Acts that melt away disgrace, abuse and shame
That spread like soothing oil
And precious perfume.
Acts that break the rules
Gratified to find a lover’s love languages
Gracious love that blesses others
And returns with interest to the givers.
Relationships not regulations
Saving grace.
Servant Babette used all her fortune
Creating a generous feast
Exotic foods that cost her, sourced from afar
Prepared with hospitable love and labour
For those who came.
Opening the way for grace to enter
Changing the village
As only grace can transform.
We sit at a table prepared just for us
Oil slathered on our heads and feet,
Forever.
JW December 2023