"find love, refined,
and there too thou shalt find
grace, defined."
-no one said this that i know of, i just made it up and thought if i used the word "thou" it would look like an official quote ...
grace is defined in many different ways.
i have read the definitions and i agree with all of them.
i have also witnessed and felt grace, and i have decided that where grace lives, love lives: where love is, grace is ... and where grace is, love is.
when one person gives another grace: pardon, mercy, courtesy, kindness ... it is an act of love. lovingness is at the core where that grace is born.
this can be in any context and can occur in any dynamic. a stranger can give another person grace. it comes from a loving heart. without love in his or her heart, i don't know that grace would even come forth to be offered.
and when one person loves another, love refined: free from impurities ... one loves with grace. grace is defined in that safe harbor. there is no record keeping of wrongs or acts of blame or begrudging. the loved one knows that he or she is accepted and celebrated completely and without fail. pardon is given. with kindness. with understanding. no one is expected to be perfect. those loved are loved for being who they are. exactly as they are. because that is pure. and nothing else is needed.
if love is the umbrella under which two hearts are safe, grace is the pole, connecting the canopy to the hands which hold it.
