The Bubble Wrap of Grace

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23 BCP 234)

I wrote the other day on Facebook that life the last six months has been like running in the dark. For most of us, going for a run is always a challenge, but attempting to run in the dark, either early in the morning as I do or late at night, has its own particular challenges. The biggest challenge is that it is hard to see where you're going and if the ground is safe and even. Running in the dark can feel very treacherous, and many of us have had such feelings about our lives right now. Moving forward each day is treacherous. We don't know what is coming and we don't know where the ground is. 

Thankfully, in the Collect for this coming Sunday, we pray for God's grace to always precede and follow us. Basically, we are asking for God to bubble wrap us in grace, so that as the day goes along, anything treacherous we fall into will be changed by God's grace. God is encircling us with love and mercy, and when we remember this in our daily lives, the world doesn't seem so treacherous. We know that God will be with us and protect us every step of the way.