Remembering the Circle of Grace

A few summers ago I developed this deep preoccupation with grace. I'm not sure exactly why it started, but I remember being up late one night searching all the online dictionaries and Bible dictionaries for definitions, references, anything to help me understand this word. I was tired of singing about it, hearing about it, and throwing it around without understanding the gravity of the word grace. So the quest for understanding began. 

One person I asked defined grace as this marvelous gift from God causing every human action to be  an action of thankfulness for amazing grace. I was captivated by this description of actions changing because of grace. I had never thought of grace as something eliciting a response. 

Timehop has hilariously provided me with this needed reminder of the great grace given to us. Last year at this I was working on a sculpture series entitled, "The Circle of Grace" and often posted pieces of this project with captions about grace, so these posts have been appearing the last couple of weeks on Timehop. "The Circle of Grace" series included lots of found object art, things I found in trash piles outside the art rooms, things I found in the bushes walking home from class like old baseballs and a rusty lock. 

The humble process of taking what's broken and making it beautiful was the most astounding discovery of how to understand grace. The taking of the broken and making it beautiful, not throwing out but repurposing, not shoving in a corner but bringing into the light. 

I've needed reminders of this grace lately. I needed to be reminded in every area I am striving for perfection and fall short, there is grace. I should give myself grace instead of striving for the unattainable, or the earthly things containing no significance in the long run. There is a significant amount of "new" flooding into my life. I am wired to respond by taking it all in stride, not sweating a thing, continuing on as if all the change is easy. I am learning to acknowledge the fluctuations of life as they are. The good can be good, the challenging can be challenging, the bad can be bad.

Grace is the same through it all. The rhythm of being swept out to sea and brought back in again and again, forcing exhaustion and disorientation is no match for the steadfast grace swimming after me. 

"I rebuild when I break down. In spite of the uneven odds beauty lifts from the dirt." -Sleeping At Last