This quote just made me laugh! I’ve been married for almost 20 years now and have discovered that “being a little deaf” really does make a difference. Not just in marriage either, but in all relationships and life. It’s also called “grace” and I think it’s the greatest gift we can give not just others but ourselves. Life is hard, relationships can be painstaking at times and we can all muddle through a little smoother by giving the gift of grace. Maybe that means forgiving yourself for forgetting someone’s birthday or losing track of time and being late for a date/event.

Grace is a “gift to the undeserving” according to people I polled. That seems accurate enough. I’ve needed grace time and time again when it really wasn’t deserved. Maybe you need to give grace to someone for being rude, forgetful, demanding or simply oblivious. They may not deserve grace but you give it anyway. Grace, much life forgiveness isn’t always for the one we give it to but for our own healing and strength. We just spent a month focused on resilience and giving grace builds our resilience in moments when we may have no ability to see hope. Grace is turning a blind eye or a deaf ear to the fact that the person is undeserving and gaining resilience as we move closer to hope in handing out grace anyway.

No matter the situation, grace is a gift to be given even to the least deserving. Who can you give grace to today?

Sarah Deats

Sarah Deats is the Hope Inc. Stories Inspiration Engineer. Her goals are to make a connection with everyone that she can while building community, spreading hope, and sparking change. She believes that while life may not be easy, it is never lived alone.