Reading the Signs (Svithe)

"Grace happens." So says a church sign just down the street.

Sometimes I get so caught up in the "all we can do" part of Nephi's equation that I forget to let grace happen.

So I resolve to let it happen more often, though not at the expense of doing what I can. I've realized I have to walk with grace during every step along the way---moving grace to grace, receiving grace for any grace I can give---to strike the balance between faith and works. Because only when I'm confident I've done the best I could in a certain venture, including pleas for grace to help me along the way, can I approach the throne of God and ask him to do the rest...

...like helping me get the grades I need to know I'm not wasting my time in this Ph.D. program, which is how this semester felt. Because for everything grand that grace is good for, it's also good for grades. For however useless I think they sometimes are as a measure of success and progress, they're a necessary evil that I just can't dismiss out of hand.

I just hope God doesn't give grades on Judgment Day.