Grace For Grace

The words grace and gratitude both come from the same Latin word gratia or gratus. In fact, in languages directly descended from Latin, like Spanish or Italian or Portuguese, the words for grace and thanks are the same: Gracias, Grazie, Graças. Even in English, when we are about to pray and give thanks for a meal, we often refer to this as "saying grace." But I think that grace and gratitude share much more than a common linguistic history. Grace, with a capital G, is the enabling power of the Atonement. Grace is the strength that we find to keep pressing forward, the tender mercies that bind our hearts back together when they are about to shatter, the little, everyday miracles that make this a life not just to be endured but enjoyed. The quickest and surest way to invite and incorporate grace into our lives is through gratitude. Gratitude is having the humility to acknowledge that we are not strong enough to do this on our own and that we thankfully accept the Lord's strength to help us overcome our challenges. Gratitude is allowing ourselves to feel the Lord's love for us even when we are lost at sea, or at the bottom of the pit, or hooked up to IVs or falling to our knees at a graveside. Gratitude is noticing and appreciating the millions of tiny miracles that bless our lives each and every day. We are told that we are saved by grace after all we can do. I would say that "all we can do" is to give and show our gratitude. God's grace isn't one half of an equation. It's not God's grace plus our works equals salvation. This isn't just about quid quo pro. Christ loves us so much that He made an infinite sacrifice to save us. All we can do in return is show our gratitude by loving Him enough to allow His grace into our lives to let Him save us. If our parents loved us enough to pay for our college tuition and said, all you have to do is show your gratitude by studying hard and getting good grades and graduating, then we would graduate both thanks to their generous gift and all we could do to study hard and get good grades. But while our studying may have allowed us to remain at university, it didn't actually contribute financially to our tuition. Christ paid for our Earthly tuition with His own life. We can choose to drink and party and waste our time and flunk out of our classes, or we can graciously and gratefully accept the gift of His grace and do all that we can to honor His payment and graduate with honors. It is when we accept grace with grace that we grow and become more like Him. Christ gave everything for us to fill us with His grace and all we can do in return is give and show our thanks and say Grace for Grace.