What if God's Grace Came in Packets?

What if God's Grace Came in Packets?

By Bob Peterson, Oct 14, 2013

In a song called Part of the Plan, Dan Fogelberg wrote:

I have these moments all steady and strong,

I'm feeling so holy and humble,

The next thing you know, I'm all worried and weak,

And I feel myself starting to crumble.

Often you trudge through your days, stuck in a thick mire of habits and obligations. You move forward, fighting the obstacles in your life, trying to give each day some meaning, some justification. Every move you make in your chess game is countered with a new challenge, a new threat. Your work seems overwhelming. Bills need paying. Dishes need washing. Clothes need laundering. Life is a struggle. Through it all, you worry. You feel inadequate, weak, and small.

But every now and then, something changes. You wake up feeling elated, strong, and confident. You know you're okay. Everything in life runs smoothly, comfortably. Even when things aren't working, you feel purposeful and knowledgeable; stronger than the tide that threatens to carry you out to sea. Surrounded by mindless, ignorant people, you feel nothing but love. Engulfed by a dirty, chaotic world, you feel nothing but empathy. Trapped inside a mundane world of physical objects, you somehow feel connected and spiritual. As a soul, you can sit back and laugh at the world's ridiculousness. You have an overwhelming love for God, and gratitude for no particular reason. You can feel it: it's God's Grace.

The next day, you're stuck in the mire again, but that sacred touch was enough to keep you going.

Psychologists say that we're all bipolar to a greater or lesser degree. Everyone has moments of being manic and being depressed, but for most people, the peaks and valleys are small and inconsequential. Still, these moments of grace seem to defy your normal ups and downs of life, like a reprieve. Or a gift.

What if God has a small pouch tied around His (or Her) waist, filled with packets of Grace? Every day, He reaches in with a mighty hand and pinches a carefully measured amount between his fingers. He reaches his enormous arm over the Earth and sprinkles that grace over the surface. If you're in the right place, God's Grace enters your body like a drug, revitalizing you, and spreading its messages of hope:

“Everything's going to be all right.”

“Everything is exactly how it should be.”

“You're right where you're supposed to be.”

“You're good enough.”

“You are loved.”

“You are a child of God; you are Love incarnate.”

Grace lingers for an hour, or a day. If you could see it, you would put it on the upturned palm of your hand, thank it for its gifts, then blow it away in the direction of someone who needs it more. Having done its job, the packet of God's Grace leaves you and bounces and skips joyfully across the surface of the Earth, looking for another life to touch. 

Still, it echoes and reverberates through your soul, until you need to be reminded again.