Between Health and Wealth Avenues: Let's all say grace! (How do we invite grace into our lives?)

Grace - Today I AM AWARE OF GRACE AS A GIFT IN MY LIFE. There is a quality of grace that is like a gentle gust of wind. It lifts your spirits, changes things around, and makes way for new things to appear in your life.

What is grace exactly?

For the purposes of this post let's define it as: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. It is also an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.

How do we invite grace into our lives - well here's the first step...

Don’t dwell on everything you think your life lacks. Instead, pay attention to what’s going right.

I have the life that I want: I write every day. I take risks. I seek opportunities to use my skills. I’m sowing the seeds. Other people might not recognize the abundance in my life because on the surface, I have challenges—but I recognize it.

I use my natural gifts and enable all that I have to grow, strengthen, and come in to light. Focusing on lack is not an option. Negativity is not constructive. The important thing is that I know what I want and I can make it happen.

There are few things in this life that are impossible and we always have a choice. We don’t have to live in the shadow of what could have been if we shine a light on what’s working to allow it to grow. (tinybuddha)

GRACE is ''Unmerited love'' we didn't earn it. But when it finds us we need to accept it, and welcome it with open arms. Remember Grace doesn't always come in the forms we expect - there may not be visible legions of angels - or a booming voice from above saying I love you and I'm here to help... and I think this is what many of us subconsciously expect. You don't have to go looking for it - it will find you. But you do have to keep your eyes, and your heart and mind open not just to the possibility of Grace but to the probability of it. It does exist. For each and everyone of us Grace is a part of life.

I know a lot of people may think I haven’t “reached” the place where I need to be yet. I’m not in denial, I need money, good health, and love, but I am optimistic, and I move forward and trust in friendship, fellowship and grace.

I have felt guilty, desperate and exhausted. We all do sometimes. But I know it’s getting better. I also know that my present experience will ultimately enrich my life. More importantly I know Grace is currently a part of my life - I can both give and receive it - and I do regularly. I encourage you to do the same.

I consider each of us employed in the service of GRACE - some of us are doing it full time, others may not have heard or recognized their calling yet. If you believe in the power of prayer, please pray with me...I don't usually bring religion into my posts - all are welcome here despite beliefs but I for me God is a gracious being and with that I will end with one of my favorite prayers. Take what you can from it:

"Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen. -- Collect for Labor Day from the Book of Common Prayer"

O God, who hast bound us together in this bundle of life, give us grace to understand how our lives depend upon the courage, the industry, the honesty, and the integrity of our fellow humans; that we may be faithful in our responsibilities to them. – Reinhold Niebuhr