...as we carry out

        this act of grace

that is being administered by us

    for the glory of the Lord himself

and to show our good will.

                 2 Corinthians 8.19

(Grace is not a matter of what

    we drum up in ourselves,

but living under God's divine influence

         on our hearts

and how He is reflected in our lives.

Is grace the first thing

              we reach for

    in working out this situation,

    in navigating troubled waters,

    in how we approach others?

The thing about grace

   is that it gets all over everything.

What we do today

            may be forgotten tomorrow,

but the reverberations of grace

       have no expiration date.)

O LORD,

May our lives be marked

        by Your grace

that You are glorified

             in all things,

nothing too small,

                nothing too great.

Help us to not just see

               opportunities for grace,

      but our need for You.

We can't do it on our own.

Empower us to step out of the way

    and let Your grace rule in us.

It is not we who live,

    but You who live in us.

And that always looks

               very different,

       inside and out.