In matters of personal finance, there
is one simple, fundamental principle:
Keep expenses below income.
In matters of the spirit, there is a
parallel principle:
Live within past graces.
By that I mean, use and share graces
already received, seek and appreciate graces previously unnoticed, and be
thankful for them all.
To live in the expectation of future
grace, let alone to count on it – individually or as a society - to keep us
from the consequences of ignorance, folly or self-righteousness, is to deny
grace by changing its nature into payment of some divine debt.
By living within past graces, being content
with them and joyful and grateful for them, we honor the miracle of grace and
its Source.
Better still, by
sharing with others what we have received by grace we become agents of grace - and
more sensitive to its presence.
