When Grace Fails

June 11, 2008 | Filed Under Small Talk 

Grace is the outward manifestation of a belief that people are better than their circumstances and mistakes.

For most of my life I’ve been a patient, caring and somewhat passive person.  Structurally, these three qualities have been benefitial in applying and receiving grace.

To be gracious, one must be willing to take risks.  And paramount among those risks is the risk that grace will be abused.

I’ve been trampled on a few times in my life.  And, I’ve trampled on others.

Such is life.   To create the space in which human beings thrive, grace must be applied.  But the context in which grace is applied is a context in which there is the very real chance that the grace is 1) not recognized, 2) taken for granted via entitlement or 3) explicitly abused.

So how do we face the fact that grace fails in this world?  What do we do about it?   Do we harden up; become stone hearted?  Do we create structural boundaries to protect us from the failure of grace?  Or do we keep on taking risks in the unbelievable belief that at the end of the day, grace is our best hope?

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