Growing up, we said the traditional Catholic grace prayer before dinner every night. We sat for a moment to give thanks and to honor what we have been given:
"Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty and Mom’s good cooking, through Christ our Lord. Amen" (My dad added “and Mom’s good cooking” which we said religiously. We warned dinner guests before about the additional clause.)
I think our own version of a daily ritual of saying, giving or sharing grace could be helpful. For instance, we could create our own version of a prayer that starts our day: “I give thanks for what I’m about to receive.” We can give grace to others during their overwhelming challenges. We can give grace to ourselves during our own overwhelming challenges. We can share grace by intentionally thanking those around us.
We can remind ourselves that grace can be a ritual by asking ourselves this question to begin our day: “What’s today’s grace?”
What’s your grace today?
(Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.)