Grace Happened 
Copyright 2001 by Donna Willoughby

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Ephesians 2:8-10

What is this thing we call "grace"?

One dictionary says, "Grace: Latin meaning pleasing, grateful"

Roget's Thesaurus reads, "Grace is the unmerited and abundant gift of God's love and favor to man."

Writer William Hazlitt describes grace in the following words:
"Grace is the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul."

Now here's my description of Grace.

For the past six months, I've been working as a Care Manager in an assisted living facility. I love working with and caring for seniors.

One of my favorite residents at the home is Grace. She is a tiny lady in her nineties, who is a retired psychologist. Grace suffers from many physical ailments, which keep her in a very weak state. Though she is forgetful, she has a brilliant mind and on good days we have brilliant conversation.

A few weeks ago, I came into work feeling a little out of sorts. The day was long and I'd made several mistakes. A couple of people fussed at me, and I was beginning to wonder if I was adequate in this profession. It was a bad day for Grace too. She was weak and more quiet than usual. After lunch, she fell asleep in her wheelchair, so I decided to take her to her room to be more comfortable in bed.

As I helped her under the covers, I noticed her hands were extremely cold.

"Goodness, Miss Grace!" I said, "You're hands are like ice. Let me see if I can warm them up for you."

So I took her delicate, icy hands and began to rub them gently and hold them snuggly between the palms of my much larger ones. I glanced down to see if this was working and was greeted with the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

"Better?" I asked.

"Oh, much," She responded.

Her loving smile continued as she said in her best psychologist tone. "You know, I like it when someone is observant when they care for me. You are not only warming me physically, but emotionally as well. Are you an angel?"

"No, Miss Grace," I replied "But I think you are. I love you."

"I love you, too," she answered.

I sat an extra few moments with Grace that day, simply holding her hands and sharing smiles. I left work feeling very much in the right place.

God's grace. I think Grace and I both experienced this simultaneously. She by the warmth of my hands and I by her dear compliments. We were both feeling down and were lifted by the simple act of caring and gratitude for one another instilled in us by the Creator. I definitely received that, "unmerited and abundant gift of God's love" through Grace and felt that "outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul."

Even on the days she doesn't remember my name, even when I'm tired and cranky at work, and especially when I am feeling a bit useless, I can stop for a moment and remember that day -- the day "Grace Happened."