Grace

I think that grace is one of the most phenomenal and beautiful elements available to us in our human journey.  It is the exact opposite of how we are encouraged to learn in school.  In school, there is very much a “get it right” the first time approach.  There isn’t much room for stumbles or mistakes.  One bad, or below average, grade leads to another and another and before long a child is labeled as “remedial” or “average”.  These thoughts become internalized beliefs about what is possible in one’s academic journey.  Life paths seem to be set based on these early established trajectories, leaving no room to “jump” paths.  It all feels so binding, constraining, and stifling, whereas grace is the exact opposite—it is completely liberating!

Grace frees us from our perceived constraints and allows us to begin again, no matter what path we may be currently traveling.

Grace is what allows a path to truth (or love) to ALWAYS be available to us, no matter where we are in our journey.  It doesn’t matter if we are so far removed from understanding or experiencing our divine connection to God that it seems unfathomable for us to experience it—grace is available.  Grace is the great medium between the two perceptions that our spirit and ego each project.  Grace allows us to constantly move beyond the illusions that our ego projects to spirit, such that we align with truth/love.  Grace allows us to recognize that we have fallen prey to ego (yet again), such that we can shift seamlessly back into spirit/love.  Grace allows us to recognize ego as our false self, an illusion that does not hold our ultimate truth.  Since grace is only interested in upholding truth, it constantly illuminates the path that allows us to recognize and align with love.

Grace ensures that we are never blocked from a path that leads to truth/love.

It doesn’t matter if our mistakes occur when we are aiming to “do good” or if we are blindly aligned with our ego, grace is always available.  It allows us to grow while making mistakes.  It also allows us to begin a journey towards truth even if the majority of our life has been spent going in the opposite direction.  If our journey requires hitting rock bottom, grace allows for this as well.  Grace is given to us impartially.  It’s up to us to recognize it, such that we can begin to consciously grow in grace.

I think that many of us forget about our option for grace, whether it is from God to us, from us to our self, or from us to others.  We end up falling into ego’s trap of thinking that “we have to get it right the first time”.  We criticize ourselves for the mistakes we’ve made and we crucify others for theirs.  In this state of awareness, we are completely aligned with our ego, leaving no room for the light of truth (grace) to shine through.  Here’s what we must recognize:  our ego made these mistakes and our ego is now attacking us for having made them.  It’s a cycle of darkness that can only be broken with light.  We must come to see that, in these particular moments of judging and criticizing our self and others, we are spiritually disconnected, since it is our spiritual connection that allows us to consciously experience grace.  In recognizing this disconnect, we can focus our energy and attention on realigning with love, instead of continuing to fight darkness with darkness—a very ineffective strategy, since it only increases darkness!

Grace is forgiveness:  Forgiveness from God.  Forgiveness of Self.  Forgiveness of others.

We also have a nasty habit of assigning a value to the type of mistake we make as compared to the mistakes of others.  This, then, feeds into the way in which we value our self and others.  When we believe that we are our mistakes and that others are theirs, we are aligned with our ego and the illusions of separateness that it loves to project, as a way of keeping us from knowing the oneness that we share.  Grace fosters oneness.  It focuses our attention on the sameness that we share—our originating spirit—versus the fragmented illusions of separateness that our ego attempts to uphold as truth.  In cultivating grace by consciously recognizing and applying it to our self and others, we begin to foster a reverence for each other.  We recognize the divine spark that has been placed inside of each and every one of us and begin to cultivate it within our self and others.  In this way, love and light is allowed to expand exponentially.

In setting love as the goal, extending grace to our self and others becomes paramount to our mission.  It frees us from becoming hung up on the illusions that are being projected and orients our perception on truth/love.  It changes the root of where we are investing our perception from ego to spirit.  In longer getting caught in the illusions of ego, love is allowed to flow unimpeded.  This is the ultimate goal.

I’m curious…are there areas in your life where you can foster and cultivate grace?  Maybe it’s simply extending yourself the grace you deserve for a mistake you’ve made.  Maybe it’s extending grace to someone who is having trouble aligning with love.

As always, the journey continues…

With love,

Shanna