Help me to remember the meaning of grace.
Grace with its wide capital ‘G’.
Its horseshoe harbour shape,
its open hospitality,
that people may enter in and out.
Grace with its malleable ‘r’,
like a bending stem of grass,
flexible as the person who knows their
strength is self determined.
That they might bend without breaking,
spring back up.
And Grace,
with its rounded, closed ‘a’,
a circle of containment,
that grace can be given without loss to self.
A choice then, with its smiling face.
Yes, help me to recall the defining edge
of grace.
How its ‘c’ reflects the cupping
of a palm,
that must receive before it can refresh,
a deep well for blessings
deposited and withdrawn.
And finally its ending ‘e’,
a closed circle and opening both.
Reflecting our own protected rights
and boundaries retained,
that grace retains its measureless gift,
its anointing of love.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
October 2022
‘Love is patient, love is kind’
~ 1 Cor 13
‘Me te wai korari’ – Like the honey of the flax flower (sweet as honey)
~ Maori whakatauki
Living Tree Poetry 