Grace and Luck

A few days ago Silver and I were joking about how Ezra must just think she hardly ever falls down because we're almost always there to catch her -- as in, "Look! I just pitched over the couch, and then landed softly and slowly onto the hardwood floor below! My balance is EXCELLENT! I hardly EVER fall down!" We got a good laugh out of that, but it got us thinking about how God sees us. While sometimes I'm sure He's grieved by how much we think we are responsible for our own successes and our own "luck," I'm sure He's just as often bemused at how we credit ourselves for, say, finding a job immediately in a new town, a first birth -- and one at home -- occurring without incident, or two people from opposite sides of the country finding each other, falling in love, and making a life together.

It's a cliche, but people are made of such disparate stuff -- at the same time so much more fragile and so much more able to withstand trials than we usually think we are. But whatever the case, it's important -- and often difficult -- to remember the role grace plays in our lives on a daily basis.

Cormac McCarthy has spoken a lot about luck in his interviews, but it's a word that I'm trying to eradicate from my vocabulary. I don't believe in luck. I believe in grace.