So what is grace? Though we may have an idea of how to show grace or what grace feels like, it may be hard to put it into words. This has proven tricky for me as I try to explain the 27 Acts of Grace project to my young students.
As someone who grew up with computers at home and at school--I'm just 26, after all!--of course I turned to Google and online dictionaries to help me out:
GRACE:
1. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.
2. A favor rendered by one who need not do so.
3. Love bestowed freely on people.
4. Honor or favor.
5. Mercy.
6. Beauty, elegance, or charm.
7. A pleasing or attractive quality.
8. Elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
Explaining this in elementary terms requires some assistance. Thanks to our fabulous school librarian, I've acquired a few literary resources for young students to check out:
Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, along with illustrators Jane and Brooke Dyer, use the concept of cookies to define tricky words for little ears in:
Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons
Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love
Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons
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Author Carol McCloud and illustrator David Messing encourage positive behavior and daily expressions of kindness in:
Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids
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Additional thanks to our super school guidance counselor, who has displayed the following quote about grace on a school bulletin board:
Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul.
I hope that all of us here at school, myself included, will have a better understanding of grace as we work to complete this project. In the meantime, how do you define grace? Feel free to post answers below!
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