September 26, 2026

Not Where It Found You

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.

Anne Lamott wrote this in Traveling Mercies, her 1999 memoir chronicling years of alcoholism, single motherhood, and her unlikely embrace of Christianity at a small, ragtag Presbyterian church in Marin City. She was describing how grace found her exactly as she was, drunk and grieving and scared, yet refused to let her stay there. The line captures her core belief that acceptance is never the end of the story, only the starting point for change. For anyone facing a shift today, it's a reminder that being met where you are is often what makes moving forward possible.