We cannot get
grace from gadgets.

J. B. Priestley

    

The way of grace is mysterious.  You struggle for it and you do not get it.  Sometimes, without any struggle, you get it.  Its working is governed by something beyond all laws.  It is not bound by any rules, regulations, or conditions.

Papa Ramdas

      

Grace is goodness and respect given freely and unconditionally.  A sense of divine love and protection bestowed on us when we need strength and renewal.  Grace helps us know we are not alone and believe we are cared for and cherished.  Grace is a drink of clear, clean water in the desert.

Sue Patton Thoele

  
All people who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace.

Reinhold Niebuhr
   

It is the nature of grace always to fill spaces that have been empty.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


There is a force, the mechanics of which we do not fully understand, that seems to operate routinely in most people to protect and to foster their mental and physical health even under the most adverse conditions.  The religious have applied to it the name of grace.

M. Scott Peck
The Road Less Traveled

   

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.

John Stoot

   

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Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is
a void to receive it, and it is grace itself, which makes this void.

Simone Weil

  

One of the noblest words in our language is "grace,"
defined as "unearned blessing."  We live by
grace far more than by anything else.  Accordingly,
I find that the one thing which I want to put into
practice in my own life is the conscious and
deliberate habit of finding someone to thank.

Elton Trueblood

   

This is what I have learned:  Within the sorrow, there is grace.
When we come close to those things that break us down, we touch
those things that also break us open.

Wayne Muller

   
The growth of grace is like the polishing of metals.  There is first an
opaque surface; and by and by you see a spark darting out, then a strong
light; till at length it send back a perfect image of the sun that shines upon it.

Edward Payson
  

Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.

Jonathan Edwards

 

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. . . .
Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our
darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying:  "You are accepted."

Paul Johannes Tillich

  

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Grace is not a strange, magic substance which is subtly filtered
into our souls to act as a kind of spiritual penicillin.  Grace is
unity, oneness within ourselves, oneness with God.

Thomas Merton
  

The grace of God is in my mind shaped like a key, that comes
from time to time and unlocks the heavy doors.

Donald Swan

  

It is not in virtue of its liberty that the human will attains to grace,
it is much rather by grace that it attains to liberty.

Saint Augustine

  

  

The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.

Ramakrishna

   

Grace, the unmerited favor and love from God,
enters our lives when we don't know how we'll get by.

Susan Santucci

   

If you go near a tree you will get shade; if you go near a fire you
will be relieved of coldness; if you go to the river to drink, your
thirst will be quenched; if you go near God you will get his grace.
If you do not go near and do not receive his grace, is it the fault of God?

Kaivalya Navanitam

   

   

Let me describe four practical expectations you can anticipate as you get a firm grip on grace.

First, you can expect to gain a greater appreciation for God's gifts to you and others.  What gifts?  Several come to mind.  The free gift of salvation.  The gift of life.  The gift of laughter, of music, of beauty, of friendship, of forgiveness.  Those who claim the freedom God offers gain an appreciation for the gifts that come with life.

Second, you can expect to spend less time and energy critical of and concerned about others' choices.  Wouldn't that be a refreshing relief?  When you get a grasp on grace--when you begin to operate in a context of freedom--you become increasingly less petty.  You will allow others room to make their own decisions in life, even though you may choose otherwise.

Third, you can expect to become more tolerant and less judgmental.  Externals will not mean as much to you.  You'll begin to cultivate a desire for authentic faith rather than endure a religion based on superficial performance.  You will find yourself so involved in your own pursuit of grace, you'll no longer lay guilt trips on those with whom you disagree.

Fourth, you can expect to take a giant step toward maturity.  As your world expands, thanks to an awakening of your understanding of grace, your maturity will enlarge.  Before your very eyes, new vistas will open. It will be so transforming, you will never be the same.

Charles R. Swindoll

   
Grace is something you can never get but only be given.
There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about
any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and
cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
   A good night sleep is grace and so are good dreams.  Most
tears are grace.  The smell of rain is grace.  Somebody loving
you is grace.  Have you ever tried to love somebody? . . .
   The grace of God means something like:  Here is your life.
You might never have been, but you are because the party
wouldn't have been complete without you.  Here is the world.
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  Don't be afraid.  I
am with you.  Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I
created the universe.  I love you.
   There's only one catch.  Like any other gift, the gift of
grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.
   Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift, too.

Frederick Buechner
   

God is spreading grace around in the world like a five-year-old
spreads peanut butter:  thickly, sloppily, eagerly, and if we
are in the back shed trying to stay clean,
we won't even get a taste.

Donna Schafer

  

Grace is not something outside of you.  In fact, your very desire for
grace is due to grace that is already working in you.  Grace is the
Self.  It is not something to be acquired.  All that is necessary
is to know its existence.

Ramana Maharshi

   

  
Within sorrow is grace.  When we come close to those things that
break us down, we touch those things that also break us open.
And in that breaking open, we uncover our true nature.

Wayne Muller
  

Grace, like water, descends to the lowest part.

Philip Yancey

  

Claiming the dark times as Grace is the work most of us
fail to do.  That is the reason there is so much darkness.
We need the practice.

K. Bradford Brown

   
The moment of grace comes to us in the dynamics of any
situation we walk into.  It is an opportunity that God sews
into the fabric of a routine situation.  It is a chance to do
something creative, something helpful, something healing,
something that makes one unmarked spot in the world
better off for our having been there.  We catch it if
we are people of discernment.

Lewis B. Smedes
   

The amount of grace which one receives is proportional to the degree to
which one surrenders.  If you surrender completely, then
you will receive enough grace to realize the Self.

Lakshmana

   

Grace is a word which is pregnant with so much divine power and glory
that it defies definition.  In brief, it may be described as the love and power
of God.  Such a love is ever pouring on all mankind, nay, on all creation,
because this love and power dwells in and permeates
all animate and inanimate objects.

Papa Ramdas

   
   
Grace is always sufficient, provided we are ready to cooperate with it.
If we fail to do our share, but rather choose to rely on self-will and
self-direction, we shall not only get no help from the graces bestowed
on us, we shall actually make it impossible for further graces to be given.

Aldous Huxley
  

Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world:  first a dawning,
then a light, and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness.

Thomas Adams

   

Grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve,
and mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve.

Dan Roberts

  

  
Grace is the mastery of truth, the teacher of discipline, the
light of the heart, the comforter of affliction, the
banisher of sorrow, the nurse of devotion.

Thomas a Kempis
   

I began to comprehend that grace means God accepts me just as
I am.  He does not require or insist that I measure up to someone
else’s standard of performance.  He loves me completely, thoroughly,
and perfectly.  There’s nothing I can do to add or detract from that love.

Mary Graham

  

A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which
appalling experiences are survived with grace.

Tennessee Williams
Memoirs

  

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The wind of God’s grace is incessantly blowing.  Lazy sailors on
the sea of life do not take advantage of it.  But the active and strong
always keep the sails of their minds unfurled to catch the favorable
winds and thus reach their destination very soon.

Mohandas Gandhi
  

What is grace?  I know until you ask me; when you ask me, I do not know.

Saint Augustine

  

I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace
from which I could function and give as I
was meant to give in the eye of God.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

   

         
   

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.