Grace needs no reason.

Just in my office working on stuff that needs to be worked on. Glanced at my tweetdeck feed, and saw this quote, from Monte Syrie.

The 4 words that hit me the hardest. “Grace needs no reason.” Just let that phrase marinate for a bit. Wow. One of our leaders, Dr. Lindsay Lombardo, swung by my office just as I was starting to write this blogpost. I laid those 4 words on her, and she said, “That is the definition of grace.” Wow again.

In an earlier blogpost, ‘5 Great Ways to Let Kids Know You Care About Them’, I touched on the idea of grace from a teacher point of view. “Forgiveness > Punishment. Showing grace to a kid when he/she goofed up never, not once, came back to bite me. Deepens trust and respect. When it gets to the point where a kid can’t imagine going sideways in your class, you know that trust, respect, and relationships are rock solid in place. It takes work, but it’s fun work. Eventually you also gain the power of reputation. Don’t take that for granted, but it is nice to have.”

The other quote that has been on my mind for awhile now comes from Todd Whitaker. I may have already written about this one, but the old memory isn’t what it once was. He said, “It’s a lot easier to criticize a leader than it is to be one.” Well that rings a lot of bells all over the place ‘these days’. I look at our classroom, building and district leaders. I see a lot of caring, driven, passionate leaders. And they’re tired. And I know that part of that weariness comes from criticism. Unfounded, unwarranted criticism.

Grace can and should be extended to everyone.

Grace needs no reason.