“I do not understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.” Anne Lamott

Today it’s Anne Lamott’s quote on grace that is holding me, so here is what I have. It makes complete sense to me that through the mystery of grace we are forever changed—grace is transformative and moves through us like the breath of life, oblique, encompassing, tangential, constant, elusive—at once known and yet impossible to grasp. So, mystery at the core of this relationship begs a faithful response—a trust that we will be met ‘where we are’ and then not be abandoned regardless of how bleak that place of meeting might be. Instead, the quote encourages the idea of being companioned on the journey—grace ‘does not leave us where it found us’, as if to reach out a hand to bring us to what is next from wherever we might have dropped into. I like the idea that grace finds us and then moves us, because, for me, it fits with my idea of the relational aspect of a holy experience—it’s not static but abiding, with the expectation of change and growth as I continue on that path.

Jan Dahm

Photo: Marija Zaric