The Mystery of Grace

Grace conferred on my head by a bishop and eight priests 
as I knelt there praying for the courage to accept God's plans for me.  
I wondered if I'd feel anything at all; anything different. 
And one friend, who had said she could not be there, was among them. 
Not vested. I hadn't seen her arrive. 
But there she was, smiling at my surprise.
And suddenly, I glimpsed................. grace. 

Grace was everywhere that sunny day in June, 
but that one friend who came and surprised me?  
That defined it. 
That ephemeral mystery of God's grace. 
An extended hand, calling on the Holy Spirit to make me into something
impossible for me to do alone; something God asked me to do. 
Grace. 

It does not leave us where it found us.