Fall Into Grace

Hey GIRL (that’s you, our Grace In the Race Ladies):

In just days, fall will officially be upon us.

In Michigan, September brings in fall via a fire hose. It’s not subtle.

If you’ve experienced Michigan you know that we have two seasons and two intermissions. We have gorgeous summers and wicked winters. And then there is the season of muddy baseball pants, also known as spring, where the weather fluctuates between “still winter” and “summer might actually never show up this year.” It lasts for 9 minutes and feels like forever.

Finally, there is fall. A Michigan fall is picturesque. In fact, people literally travel here for the purpose of seeing the autumn leaves change color. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

In most years, fall in Michigan means sweaters and boots and college football. It means cider and donuts and trick-or-treating (usually in the rain with temps in the 40s). Like spring, fall lasts for 9 minutes but unlike spring, it is fleeting.

Halloween arrives before we’re ready, despite candy and costumes showing up in stores by the end of August. And Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to fall on consecutive weekends right after Halloween… somehow, it happens that fast. Do the fall traditions and holidays you celebrate feel that way?

This year, though, is strange.

Maybe you’ve noticed? 2020, you are so odd!

Six months into the ‘vid, I feel I’m having an awakening. Have I embraced it? No, that’s nonsense, there’s no embracing a thing that is founded on the very absence of embracing… And, I know I’m not over it… I stand firm that one cannot elect to be OVER IT.

Have I learned to live with it? Perhaps. Perhaps, I’ve come to terms with this new normal.

Perhaps I’ve given up an identity that once defined me: CONTROL. I once had control of my things… my people… my direction. Now, I don’t… and surprisingly, I’m okay with it. I’ve come to terms with one-day-at-a-time, and I actually kind of like it.

For me, it means calling on grace daily; where, once upon a time, I depended on grace for emergency use only in the midst of a downward spiral. Because, where there is no hamster wheel, there is simply less chaos. And so, the grace – the temporary reprieve – as we like to define it, shows up daily. It reminds me that I can only control today, and some days that’s even a stretch.

Yet, what a gift to know that I only have to manage today. Something about that notion exudes freedom for me. I’m free from the burden of perfection yet still driven to be my best me – just for today; because who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Honor the struggle.

I’m free to face the struggle of mom-life with whatever grace I can muster today; because tomorrow is unknown. I’m free to belong here, right where I am, because that is exactly where I’m meant to be, for today. I’m free to love. And, because I have love, I have happiness. If at the end of the day, that’s how I sum up today, well then, life is good, so what else can we ask for?

We wish you a happy fall, but more importantly, a happy today. EVERY. DAY.

In this issue, we ponder our ability to forge on to the next season of life, and what holds us back. We explore the role of shame and vulnerability in how we cope with life’s shifting seasons… or not. This exploration determines how we fall into grace… or not. Are you willing to face your vulnerability? And if so, how will you fall into grace?

Thank you for being here today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and may it kick off an extraordinary week!

Love & Grace,

Rachel (& Amanda)

Co-founders of Grace in the Race, LLC