Grace

I took this past Monday off of work for what I like to call a "mental health" day although it had more to do with my emotions that have been twirling around like a fierce tornado for the past month or so. I started my day playing with my 2 year old nephew and constantly answering the question of "Aunt KayK, what are you doing?" After a while I asked him if he was writting a book but of course I just got a blank stare followed by a very handsome smile because my question meant merely nothing to him. I had lunch with 3 very lovely friends followed by a little shopping. My best friend had a doctors appointment to have a lump in her breast checked that afternoon. We sat holding our breath and praying until she called to say that she was fine. Of course we had a little celebration for her by going to the ice cream shop up the road per her request.

That evening we went back in time for a while. Elaine, my best friend, and I have been friends since the 4th grade. We used to sit in church together and lay our arms across one anothers laps and softly rub the inside of each others arms. Sounds funny to you I am sure but it was just our thing. Every church trip we went on she and I always roomed together. In high school we had so much fun together even though we attended separate schools. Another thing we used to do was play with each other's hair and do each other's make up.

Monday evening I sat in her bathroom indian style on her counter while she took the curling iron and spiral curled my hair. It felt just like it did when we were in high school. She had gathered up some magazines for me to look at while she worked her magic on me. One of the magazines she had given me was for a cosmetic store that carries a vast selection of upscale cosmetic lines.As I was flipping through the catalogue a particular brand caught my attention. The labels on each product has a inspirational prespective on life printed on it. One of the product lines is called "Amazing Grace" which obviously caught my attention even more. There was an ad for a candle and the label read:

"Grace-how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain, and so it is with life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by one big gigantic lesson, in the end, it all comes down to one word-grace. It's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light."

I thought about it after I read it. Grace to me is all about God. There is no better grace offered to us as human beings than God's Grace! I have climbed several mountains in my life and I know that it was only through my faith and the grace of God that I was able to not only climb up those mountains but to walk down them as well. The test was hard but the lesson learned from it was well worth the work. It reminds me of a quote I saw once "In the face of adversity you find opportunity." Nothing happens by chance. Everything has it's purpose in our lives. Though we may not see it while we are walking through it or climbing over it when we do finally reach the other side we know it was by faith and Grace.

PS. As a little side note. I did some research online for this particular brand of cosmetics and found out that it was on one of Oprah's list of best things. I thought about not writing this post purely for the fact that it is tied to Oprah somehow but I refuse to let that woman have everything in this world good or bad! So Oprah, I have 2 words for you -SELL OUT!!!! (Okay, I am off that soap box now)