All the Forgivenesses

by Elizabeth Hardinger

“Saved by grace, thank God Amighty.” This was the woman with the blue bandanna, nodding, and her eyes closed. Now Mama and her kin was the kind that believed you was saved by grace and not by works, so you could get away with a sin if you wanted to—you just didn’t want to. Grace was God’s way of letting you into Heaven even though you was a born sinner. But the way Mama taught grace was a hard teaching. According to her lights, if you was in God’s grace you didn’t even want to do bad no more. But me, seemed like I was always wanting to sin. For sure I’d ruther lie than take a whipping. There was times I was like to covet, and I was like to get a hungry headache at Sabbath service. I got to where I hardly ever wanted to go no more. Not to mention, honoring your mother and father meant doing their will without complaining even in your heart. That was hard. So whenever Mama talked about them nails in Jesus’ hands, seems like my insides would fold in two.