The word “grace” is one of those words. I looked it up in the Catholic Catechism. It’s defined as “participation in the life of God” (CCC #1996-1997). In the Protestant world, “grace” means “undeserved favor.” Those words are nice, but I still can’t wrap my mind around the concept.

Recently, I stumbled upon the wisdom of Joseph Campbell, a scholar of mythology and religion. Campbell suggests the use of metaphors is the best way to understand God and the many abstract concepts around spirituality.

When we point to things familiar to us to describe what can’t be understood by our intellect, we can better picture abstract ideas. We reduce the concepts to street level.

Electrifying Grace

With Campbell’s wisdom in mind, I pondered a good metaphor for grace. I asked myself, what common tool do we use that can give us a better understanding of what grace is and how it operates in our lives?

In a lightbulb moment, I realized grace is like electricity.

We rarely see the electric current behind the wall sockets in our home, but we know the energy is there. We trust that when we plug a lamp cord into a wall socket and flip the on-switch, presto! the lamp’s light appears.

It’s the same thing with our lives.  We’re like lightbulbs, designed to be super-charged by God, to produce light, and to be the creative energy of love in the world.

Being the light of love brings us happiness and connects us to our True Self. That’s how we’re hard-wired as humans: to receive the divine power of wisdom and guidance from God so we can create new life and love in the world with our unique talents.

Like a lightbulb, however, we need to be plugged into the source of our creation, our higher power, to function properly. We need to be connected to divine electricity.

Enjoy the Quiet

Our lives are noisy and filled with so many demands we can hardly find time to process what gets thrown at us each day. To unplug from the world and plug into God’s divine energy of grace, we can take time each day for quiet space to get away from the noise of the world and to process life in the silence with God.

Consider setting your alarm and getting up a half hour early.  Sip your morning coffee or tea without distractions. Sit in the quiet for 10-15 minutes listening to the voice of your soul. Connect with your inner wisdom.

Your monkey-mind may try and pull your attention away with worried thoughts and unfinished tasks.

When the mind wanders, ask God for a word or phrase to re-center. Recall the word as needed to anchor yourself  in your heart and quiet your free-floating thoughts.

You can carry the word or phrase into your day to recenter yourself as life’s chaos circles around you.  Consider writing the word or phrase on your to-do list and come back to it as often as you like.

Plug Into a Good Book

Wisdom speaks to us in many ways, including through the written word.

Go to a physical or online bookstore and look for a good book to inspire you, to help you gain new perspectives and insight.  Think about your reading throughout the day, especially parts that have especially resonated with you.

Notice how you begin integrating the wisdom from your reading into your life. When you finish a book, get another. Plug into the flow of grace that comes from reading inspirational books and reflections as the words fill you with divine insights and wisdom.

 Get Super-Charged with the Help of a Spiritual Coach

When we want to grow our business or get personal help to live fully alive, we often hire a life-coach to help us gain new knowledge, to see things from an objective viewpoint.

It’s the same with our spiritual life. If we want to discover how the Spirit is inviting us to grow in practical, life-giving ways, we can seek a spiritual mentor, a wise sage, or someone who’s a step ahead of us on life’s journey.

Helped by our spiritual life-coach, we’re able to view our lives through God’s eyes. We discover the ways in which the Creator invites us to live fully alive and whole.

Connect with Others on the Journey

We don’t walk the spiritual path alone. We need the community of other seekers to walk alongside to share strength and wisdom on the road to inner growth.

By joining with other people in small groups to talk about our spiritual journeys, we gain the encouragement and affirmation needed to grow in mind, body, and spirt. We continue plugging into the grace of God’s divine flow in our lives.If you’d like to join an on-line community that will be meeting for 6 more weeks to discover how to Live in the Divine Flow, there’s still time to register for the Living In “Divine Flow” course.  Click on the button below to learn more and register.

  Plugging into Grace—a Spiritual Practice

This week consider how you plug into the divine electricity of grace.  Ask yourself these two questions:

• Which of the above spiritual tools are life-giving for you?
• How can you integrate them into your daily life?

Plug into grace and Super-Charge your life!

—brian j plachta