How to Recognize Grace  (A poem by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre)

It takes you by surprise

It comes in odd packages

It sometimes looks like loss

Or mistakes

It acts like rain

Or like a seed

It's both reliable and unpredictable

It's not what you were aiming at

Or what you thought you deserved

It supplies what you need

Not necessarily what you want

It grows you up

And lets you be a child

It reminds you you're not in control

And that not being in control is a form of freedom