Many Christians will refer to the prayer they say before eating a meal as “saying grace.” The term comes from the Ecclesiastical Latin phrase gratiarum action, or, act of thanksgiving. In fact, in languages that descend from Latin, like Spanish or Italian, the word for grace is also the word for thank you. This makes sense to me. Grace and gratitude are two sides of the same coin. Grace is offered without any expectation of reciprocity. In fact, for it to be true grace, then a full and complete payback would be impossible, as grace is always given from one who has in abundance to one who is in desperate need. When our Savior blesses us with His grace, He knows that we cannot pay Him back. Ever. But there is one thing we can do. We can say grace. We can thank Him and praise Him with all our hearts. Our gratitude does not pay Him back, and it doesn't make us even, but it is the best we can do, and it is enough for Him. When the Lord gives us His grace, He benevolently condescends to our level. When we say grace, we are acknowledging that we are receiving His grace through no merit or inherent worthiness of our own, but that we will show our love and gratitude for His grace and tender mercies by trying with all of our hearts to be better than we are, to become a little more worthy of His sacrifice and devotion to us. Christ died for us because He has seen our potential, and when we say grace, we are committing to live up to that potential that He sees in us. I know that the more and more that we say grace and feel and act gratefully, the more and more we will make the Savior's sacrifice and His grace worth it for ourselves and for Him.
