Without looking up the definition, I would say that grace is a noun that names a quality of being—and like other abstract ideas such as love or kindness or confusion, that quality is of being, a verb.

So the way I see it, to give grace is to first see the possibility of what is good, beautiful and true in others or ourselves (or any living being), and then to reflect it, magnify it, bring it into the world. Another word for that is creativity.

And usually involves humor.

You might be wondering at this point what in the heck I’m talking about! Well, this week Seth Godin shared the work of a person who just blew me away, honestly, so much so that I had to capture him in my sketchbook. His name is Ben Zanders, renowned Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, and I’d like to share with you what was shared with me—

First, Zander’s TED Talk is not to be missed! Seriously, watch it right now! You won’t be sorry:

Then, if you want to follow up with this five minute video Seth shared of a talk Zanders gave at a business meeting, you’ll recognize my sketches…

And maybe you’ll understand what I mean by grace. Although the word Zanders uses is possibility—and he also co-wrote a book about it, The Art of Possibility. I’m reading all it now, but it would make a great audio book, too.