Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Some more Grace...


You say grace before meals. All right.
But I say grace before the play and the opera,
And grace before the concert and pantomime,
And grace before I open a book,
And grace before sketching, painting,
Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;
And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

--G. K. Chesterton, from an early notebook (mid-1890s)

This lovely thought from GK Chesterton was in the November issue of Real Simple magazine! Perhaps Chesterton was referring to praying, which is a wonderful thing to do before any activity, especially, I believe before we take the risk of expressing ourselves creatively. But what if we took it even more literally and said the word "Grace" before these activities? It seems to me like saying the word would have a profound effect on me, as much effect as asking God to grace my work, which I also do. If I say the word, "Grace," I think I would feel God's presence and love and participation in what I do. I would be reminding myself that God graces me, and would be simply invoking Him to grace my work.

I believe I will start to try saying this word during the days ahead, and see if it has the power of a God Word. I believe it does!