Our gift of grace

Last week I attended a Lenten mission at my parish. It had been a while since I have felt connected to the season because my head was always stuck between my obligations as a parent and the workload of a teacher. I was on Spring Break and decided it would be good use of my time to spend three mornings hearing what the visiting deacon had to say.

According to Deacon Glenn, one of the most difficult concepts in Christianity is God's grace so he went on to explain it: 

Grace is when He enters our lives to get us to do the things we cannot do alone. 

God's grace is always there and always available.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but think of my older daughter who we had named Grace. She has lived up to that definition many times in her five-and-a-half years on this planet. And we know she will always be a source of faith and strength for us throughout her life.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the day we learned that our first pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage. It was early on in the development -- definitely within the window of possibility. But like many couples who have experienced this loss, it was hard news to swallow. We were at the doctor's office for a routine check-up when we told during the ultrasound that the fetus had stopped growing a couple weeks earlier. I still feel a bit numb thinking back to that moment.

As soon as we received the "go signal" from our doctor a few months later, we tried to get pregnant again. It happened so quickly the first time around so we became frustrated that it took several months before we conceived again. We wanted it so desperately that it was easy to begin to doubt that it would happen at all.

Two days before Christmas, we found out I was pregnant. It was the best gift. We kept the news to ourselves for a few weeks and because we had chosen names even before we were engaged, I couldn't help but smile at the possibility that I was a "Mary, full of Grace." 

Deacon Glenn also said that with grace, there is nothing that God is asking us to do that we cannot accomplish. And although I know that list is long and difficult, I know I am well-equipped with the Grace I have been blest. She possesses a heart of kindness, an innocently wise mind, and a spirit that comprehends heaven better than any adult I have ever encountered. 

She makes our responsibility as parents more daunting than it already is and yet because of her, we know everything is possible. We don't expect the journey to be easy -- she will one day become a teenager after all -- but we are certain the trip will be amazing. 

Because that is what she has always been... our amazing Grace.