one drop of grace

Last week the phrase "one drop of grace at a time" made its way into my sermon. It's not unusual for me to preach something that I need to hear, though at the time these words spilled out that wasn't on my mind. Today I am appropriating them for myself as a way of looking at some of the little things that happen in the course of a day.

For instance, watching leaves fall... noting the brilliant deep red that tinges some of the trees in the neighborhood... gratitude for having shampooed some of the carpets over the weekend... getting books moved to the office... emptying a storage unit in my office in anticipation of a modest (and long overdue) overhaul... gorgeous weekend weather...

I was responsible for some of these things, others were simply noted and appreciated for their presence. Each of them, in their own way, erased a degree of pressure and stress in my life. Those erasures in turn make it easier to look beyond my own world into the more expansive world where others live and have concerns, and where balance and peace are to be found. Grace is always present. The drops are always there. Today I'm grateful for seeing them.