Growing up in a small town in Ohio, Sundays were primarily reserved for trotting over to church in our best clothes and worshipping The Lord. Our family church is still alive in Johnsville, Ohio, and it was the first place I learned about worship and, more importantly, saying grace. I have very vivid memories of itchy dresses and trousers. I remember very well itchy red seat covers on the never ending long pew rows of which I was forced to sit for what seemed like an eternity of time. We were given crayons and paper to draw on sometimes, but we had to as still as a statue and not open our tiny little voices. Even with a crayon and paper in front of me this was almost and impossible feat, but I’d like to think that I tried my very hardest to do so. I just couldn’t understand the whole quiet part, or all the talking with nobody talking back to the man on the stage part. It was like he was just thinking out loud up there, saying what was in his head for us to hear.
Now, I realize listening in church was my first lesson in respect. And sitting still. And not talking. And singing more quiet than the person next to me that could actually sing. My favorite lesson though, I think most likely because it was directly tied to my grandfather, was the lesson of saying grace. Grandpa was the head of the house and when we joined hands in a circle at the table he was the one who said grace over the meal that had been eloquently prepared by many hands. Grace always started with “Heavenly Father”…and ended in “Amen”. I had no father at home, so I picked my grandfather as my craft subject on Fathers day in Sunday school, and searched for meaning in this Heavenly Father guy much later in life.
More importantly than my quest for male role models outside of my home, I had an interest in how grace had an effect on my life. How to give it to others when they were undeserving and take it when I was as well, how to take it from others that were strangers, and how to proclaim it over my daily life. As I continue to learn how to practice grace in my daily life I continue to see my many faults I have to work on in hopes that I may become a better person for others to lean on. Focusing on faults is never easy, but essential. Most times for me it is easier to say grace for the things that I have as opposed to the qualities I have not spent time sharpening in order to create a sense of grace in my life. Today, Im going to try to focus on both.
I am very grateful for my health, something I know I will not always have. I am beyond grateful for my hands that allow me to work on my craft and release the words that are in my head. I may not be a preacher, but I do believe in the one sided conversation I have with my viewers and readers to be very powerful. I am grateful for everyone who understands the great value in teaching our youth about creative thinking and engaging in it together. I am grateful for my strong relationships, my daily luxuries, and the lessons my family have instilled in me. I have a lot of work to do on becoming greater than I was yesterday, and starting the day in a state of grace has made that much easier for me to do.
I hope this note finds you in a state of grace and good health, and most importantly, growth beyond what you ever could have imagined a short time ago.
Happy Sunday friends,
Meg