Small Success Thursday: Grace Edition

The part of me that knows better knows to give that last full measure requires I climb the stairs. It will result in stories, prayers, cups of water, but also hugs, kisses, tuck-ins, and more “I love you”s. The jaded tired soul says, “Get it done. You have other stuff to do.” But that’s not the point of parenting or living or any of faith.  Yet the body is weak. “For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what I do.” (Romans 7:15)

However, in talking with another person about the subject of writing, God granted me an insight.  Writing a book requires a story arc which, in the best of circumstances, should be plotted out. For some, the easiest way to get the story plotted is to start at the end and work backwards.

I thought about application of this same technique to real life. I wanted my children to go to bed tucked in, happy, peaceful. So I plotted the day backwards, from tuck-in with stories, prayers, and sippy cups, to what we’d serve for dinner, to the tricky issue of picking up two teens at two different schools at two different times, to homework.

It worked.

I tried it again the next night, and even with the craziness of a dental appointment and a forgotten book, it still worked. Theologically speaking, it makes sense, our end goal being Heaven, to work backwards toward what we must do here on Earth, with the end destination in mind. “So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good.”

Having a plan to make it happen helped it happen. Having a plan to cooperate with grace led to the grace to cooperate. Anytime I make it up the stairs, it is grace. It is the widow’s mite, to give when I feel entitled to stop giving.  When the mind, heart, and body say “Stop” and you act anyway, it is grace.

Grace is a habit. I’d fallen out of it as of late owing to the craziness of the schedule and my willingness to be weak on this point. However, whenever we cooperate with grace, you know, we receive more, as God cannot be outdone in generosity. Grace leads to more grace. Reading one story usually leads to three. So also, one “I love you” often leads to smothers of hugs and kisses on the cheek.

With that in mind, this week’s small successes of cooperating with grace and making grace a habit include:

2. Plotted two-thirds of my next book using a workshop technique.  Planning to finish the plotting so I have a blueprint for where I want to end up by the end of the book.

 

3. Being pushed to re-start a daily rosary, when I’m presented constantly with friends who deserve prayers as gratitude for their friendship, friends who need prayers for their sufferings, and friends who ask for prayers because they need more salt and light in their lives.