Life itself is grace.

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.  ~Frederick Buechner from Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation

I had selected this quote before the tragedy of December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut.  But of course now it feels even more poignant.  I chose this quote this week because I live within a community that has experienced an unusual amount of death and tragedy over the course of the past month or so.  A friend posted on Facebook the quote, “Life itself is grace,” commenting about some of the recent and sudden tragedies and how this emphasizes the fact that, “Life itself is grace.”  Then only days later, this same individual found himself also swept up in the tragedy of sudden and unexplained death of a close family member.

And now as a nation, we've all been swept up in the tragedy of Newtown, Connecticut.  It's not hard to find individuals at Sandy Hook Elementary who were not only leaders but heroes.  The principal and the school psychologist were shot as they tried to tackle the gunman in order to protect the students.  A 27-year-old teacher shooed her first graders into closets and cabinets when she heard the first shots, and then, by some accounts, told the gunman the youngsters were in the gym.  She had put herself between the gunman and the kids.  She lost her life protecting the children.

These individuals knew, and lived, as if "Life itself is grace."

Does it really take tragedy of this magnitude for the rest of us to live as if "Life itself is grace"?

There are many definitions of grace and I certainly don’t want to spark a theological or intellectual debate.  But given the events of the past week, I like the definition that grace is generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved.  Life is free and totally unexpected and undeserved.  What if we were leading, every day, from the vantage point of grace?

We'd be more grateful.  We'd be more generous.  We'd be more forgiving.  We'd be more appreciative.

Chuck Swindoll says "Grace isn't picky. Grace doesn't look for things that have been done that deserve [recognition].  Grace operates apart from the response or the ability of the individual.  Grace is one-sided."

The children who walked away from Sandy Hook Elementary and into the arms of their parents were recipients of one-sided grace.  They received something free, totally unexpected and undeserved, while their teachers sacrificed their lives.

As we've all witnessed in the past week, "in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."   Swindoll says, "Believing in grace is one thing, living it is another."  As leaders, are we living grace?