Grace

Sometimes (like now) I wish that God's grace (which is abundantly given) was closer linked with graceful (which I am not, but in need of). There is no easy way to begin because in the past few days there have been so many examples! Yesterday when ironing a shirt for church (a very rare occasion in our house), I sizzled my forearm. Purple is not a good color for a burn...

Then a few days ago I was testing that Law, you know the one that starts with "an object in motion will stay in motion"...basically until it hits a stationary object? Yep - tested that one when I fell down the stairs. I tried to stop myself, but I was in motion and therefore stayed in motion until...(that stationary object)...I hit the wall. Yep, that one hurt. Still recovering from that one...all the muscles that I used to stop myself really hurt. The whiplash I encountered upon the initial slip only lasted a day or two, but the sore muscles and brush burns are still there!

Today (which is not so much a graceful thing, but thought that I'd add it in there) I went berry picking. There are thousands in my parents backyard. I took the kids and a couple of buckets and we headed out. We were out for almost 3 hours, the kids lasted about 45 minutes before they just had enough and played in the back yard instead of helping. So it was just me in the middle of all these beautiful, big berries. The pros would be all the free berries that my kids love. The cons would be all the battle wounds that I endured. I have endless scratches all over my body (I even wore long sleeves and jeans this time! Side note: At one point I found myself singing the song, "It's gettin' hot in here" as I was in the middle of a berry bush unable to move because I managed to get myself completely covered in jaggers. But deciding not to "do" the next line of the song!)...tonight, I have pulled the 11th jagger out of my finger, there were 5 in my pointer finger alone. Apparently I don't have the correct technique down for berry picking!

Bottom line: I look pretty beat up because I am clumsy!