Not Earned - Echinacea / Coneflower - Missoula, Montana

"Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action."

-—Dallas Willard (1935-2013), Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984, 1993, 1999), 194.

Sun-kiss Burns Off the Fog - East Missoula, Montana

As much as I dread driving in it, I love the beauty fog brings - it softens everyday realities, and  graces the trees with an other-worldly reminder .

Present Grace (Poppy) - Missoula, Montana

“The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.”

-C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), from  Learning In War-Time, 1939

Graceful Change - Non-climbing Clematis, Missoula, Montana

 “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and change is painful.” -Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), from The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Clean Slate - Vaughn, Montana

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day's chalking.”
― Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace