Grace and Growth

It may surprise you to know that in High School, my nickname was Grace.  It wasn’t because I was so graceful… in fact, I think it was because on the Volleyball court I was just the opposite.  As a bit of a tomboy, I had my fair share of spills and broken bones. Somehow, the name never bothered me though, in fact it felt more like a goal.

This past week, I’ve run into this idea of Grace in three different places which has caused me to reflect on what an incredible concept this is.  Of course, there is the religious application and the beautiful Sunday School lesson I heard about grace in church on Sunday.  The usual discussion about God’s grace that will save us was there… but there was also a twist that caught my attention.  Something I hadn’t considered before.  While God loves us as we are, he loves us too much to leave us as we are.  He provides grace so that we can love and accept ourselves wherever we are, and  grow to the next and better version of ourselves.  Being graceful and loving toward ourselves provides nourishment for us to grow and progress.

Most of us do not do a great job of loving and accepting ourselves.  We are really good at self-criticism of our mistakes, self -judgements, comparisons, ridicule… and from these places of fear and shame we cannot grow.  We never are able to scold ourselves toward improvement, toward weight loss, toward better parenting, etc.  But from a place of grace, love and acceptance… we change the game.  We put ourselves in a position to grow. 

The grace that we allow ourselves, will fuel our progress and our joy in life.  Try it.  It feels so much better to be your own best cheerleader, to have your own back no matter what, and to be compassionate and encouraging to yourself.  Shift the self talk (that voice in your head)  in a positive direction.  You may not be great at it at first, that’s ok.  Show yourself grace and…. begin again.    

Turns out… Grace is a nickname I really do aspire to.  Who knew?