In Gratitude for the Gift of Grace

Grace: “Divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.” (LDS Bible Dictionary)

In the Book of Mormon we learn that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Ne 25:23).

I know sometimes people wonder about that balance between grace, and “all we can do”. To me, doing all I can do may not get me very far, but it is what shows the Lord that I can be trusted, that I am serious and sincere; it’s that effort that makes me moldable so I can be fit for His presence.

I like to think of Grace like a train ticket the Savior has bought and paid for. In my little analogy the train is Heavenly Father’s plan for getting His children back home. He has the perfect train on the perfect track, and it goes right back to Him. But the tickets are expensive— much more than we could ever possibly afford. If we gave all we had it still wouldn’t be enough. But, “thanks be to God”, the ticket's already paid for. That’s what Jesus Christ’s Atonement did. All we have to do is get on the train… and stay on. That’s something completely within our capacity, though it turns out to require all our effort just to do that much. But without that ticket, no matter how hard we tried, we wouldn’t get anywhere.

I am grateful for the gift of divine grace.

Through grace, I receive power to change from old ways to new.

Through the gift of grace, I will one day be resurrected, as will my loved ones whom I long to see again— death has lost the victory.

Through grace, I hope to finally “lay hold on eternal life”.

Through grace, even though my best efforts aren’t much, they are enough.