I love the power of the right word. Every week I write about a particular word that has been resonating with me, and this week the word is GRACE.

Because of some projects and several conversations this week I actually had another word ready to go today, but it just didn’t feel right for this Saturday, Christmas Eve.

“Grace” has several definitions, and all of them good. As a noun it’s a physical condition of elegance.  As a verb, it adorns and embellishes.  I read that is is mentioned 170 times in the Bible, and that one definition is that it is unmerited favor.

I am a person of faith…not just mine, but others’ faith as well, and I really love that last definition. If we are connected to the moment, I think we can find grace through the smile of a stranger, or another driver letting us go in front of them.

I don’t think it’s showy or loud, but it’s not small, either. I believe grace is goodness, and that it’s always around us, it doesn’t exist just when we see it…or remember to be grateful for it.

In my mind, I see and feel grace as an all-encompassing warm glow. It’s a gift, reassurance that big-picture, I am being looked after, and all will be OK.

What I call grace transcends all the demographics.

There has got to be other words to describe this in other faiths and cultures, I just don’t know what they are. What are your word(s), and how do you define them?

Meanwhile, wishing you the realization of how much goodness and light surrounds you,  24/7.