Say Grace

"You say grace before meals
All right.
But I say grace before the play and the opera,
And grace before the concert and the pantomime,
And grace before I open a book,
And grace before sketching, painting,
Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;
And grace before I dip the pen in the ink."
                              --G. K. Chesterton

Chesterton had it right.
Of course, what he referred to as saying "grace" is what we might call "saying the blessing" or "asking the blessing."
Of course, we may have to define that a little bit, too.
What we are actually doing is asking God, the Creator and Father, to give His blessing on something, whether it be our food or journey or something else.
It is asking God to "grace" us with His good and bountiful blessing.
Grace is a gift.  It is freely given.  Even when we ask God to bless our food, or our home, or our business, we need to understand that even those things are not "ours", but a gift (grace) from God.
So, when we ask the blessing, we are to be thankful to God as well.  Sometimes it is even put as "returning thanks."
Now back to Chesterton's poem.
Life should be lived to the fullest.  And if we are going to do that, by necessity, God has to have a grand role in it.  Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). (That is also a great grace in that Jesus came to us.)
If we are to live life abundantly with God in an attitude of thankfulness to Him, then we are going to do exactly what Chesterton wrote about doing.
We won't simply pray just before, or even a few bites into, our meal; we will pray asking God's blessing in everything we do.
If we ask God for His blessing in everything we do, that will also keep us from doing some things that we know that God certainly will not bless.
Say grace before your next party.
Say grace at the grocery store.
Say grace before you enjoy your next latte or mocha.
Say grace before you play tennis or golf (especially if you play as badly as I do).
Say grace at the game.
Say grace before you wash the dishes at home.
Say grace before you go to work.
Say grace at the recital (sometimes it is a grace to get through it).
And, for heaven's sake, say grace before you go to church.
The point is, whatever you find yourself doing, ask God to give His blessing, His grace upon grace.

"Rejoice always;
Pray without ceasing;
In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
                                           1 Thessalonians 5:16-18