My word for this year is grace.
I thought I knew what that meant when I started this year. When I first wrote it down and said “Yes, that’s the word that will guide my year,” I thought grace was the perfect thing to get me all I wanted to live my dreams and accomplish my goals.
And I definitely saw grace a lot in the early months of this year – when everything would come together at just the right time or when it felt like God was giving me the words right when I needed them. I saw grace when opportunities opened up and I saw grace when things went my way.
But then the last six weeks happened, and suddenly here I am thinking “I got grace all wrong.”
I think I was directing grace.
But grace isn’t mine to control.
St. Ignatius taught me how to pray for a grace. He said you should start your prayer right up front asking God for what you need. But he meant what you really NEED which is not always in line with what you WANT. He warned me that sometimes asking for a grace would be difficult. He knew that sometimes I’d have to ask for the grace to desire something that wasn’t in MY plan. He knew that sometimes it would take time to understand the grace hidden in even the most challenging moments.
Today I’m praying for new understanding of this word I’ve chosen to guide my year in the words of St. Ignatius that always challenge me:
“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,⠀
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.“
What grace do you seek today?
What grace do you think God wants to give you if you only open your heart to receive it?
