Holiday Season Revelations and Realizations: Grace All Around
Grace all around. That is the theme for 2026. Our world has been through so much since March 2020. Almost everyone I know has said that the last six years of their life has been trying, testing, challenging, but also… it has gone by so quickly.
I was on the phone with a sweet friend of mine, Emily, who lives in Nashville last evening. We met working in a restaurant together in Montecito, California, and have lived many lives since then. She moved to Tennessee, and shortly after, I also left California and moved to Spokane, Washington. We thought our call was wrapping up. But before we hung up, I asked her how I could be praying for her this holiday season. That question changed the direction of our night. She told me, and then asked me the same question.
I was silent for a few moments, reflecting. God has been so generous to me in this season of my life. He has healed me through grieving the loss of too many loved ones over the past years. He has connected me with the most amazing professionals, the best clients. He has plucked me out of another strenuous job and given me stewardship over a business… again. What more do I need?
Then I remembered… grace.
If you haven’t gathered already, I am someone who cares deeply about my vocation. Every single position I have ever held I take very seriously, including my time as a line cook. After a few sour experiences with a receptionist, and two cashiers at restaurants I found myself venting to my boyfriend. “What happened to caring about your work? To service with a smile? To leaving your personal issues at the door when you put on your apron and clock in?” I said exasperated. “Why does it bother you so much?” He asked. “Because I care, and I want other people to care too. It’s not that hard.”
His response is something that still sticks with me, “Have you ever thought that these people are working minimum wage, and they are struggling to make rent? The economy sucks! Maybe they are stressed out and they are having a bad day. Instead of getting upset you need to have grace for these people.” He said this in the most calm, cool, and matter-of-fact way it completely stopped me in my tracks. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
So when I told this to Em, she shared with me a story that she had seen described online, from a woman with a similar perspective to me. Every day she goes to a coffee shop and orders the same thing before heading to work. One morning, she was running late, already a bit frazzled, when she was greeted by a barista who seemed, for lack of a better word, careless. They exchanged the oh-so-typical American “Hi how are you?” “Good how are you?” “Good.” “What can I get started for you?” The barista messed up her coffee order, and didn’t offer to fix it. She was already running late, so she went to work and had an okay day.
The next morning when she went in, she asked the barista, “How are you doing, really?” With full eye contact and intention behind her words. The barista apologized for her experience yesterday, said her mother was in the hospital, and she wished she were with her right now but she had to show up for her shift because she needed this job to pay the medical bills.”
Wow. Do you have chills? Are your eyes welling up? Because me too.
The woman and the barista talked for a bit. She tipped her $100. She went to work. The next morning when she came in, her coffee was on the house.
When I heard this story… I was humbled. How could I not be? This shows the stark contrast between having grace, and not having grace. As I share this story with you, I hope you will join me in using every minor frustration and redirection as an opportunity to have grace all around for our fellow Americans in 2026. We don’t have the strength to do it ourselves, but luckily, we don’t have to.
Psalm 103:8: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Hebrews 4:16: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain in mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
Romans 11:6: “And if by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”
Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”