Although these Graces are mostly drawn from the great Christian tradition, they are all directed to the present time, to life as we lead it. Every day we make unexpected discoveries about ourselves and the world around us. Likewise, in a spirit of serendipity, these Graces are not categorized. They are to dip into whenever you need the comfort of words that show us that we are not alone and that our private joys and sorrows, irritations and minor triumphs, have been, and always will be, common to humankind. In this book each Grace has its own minute prayer mat on which you may, perhaps, in your imagination, kneel down and rest your spirit for a while.