Grace

I held out a little grace
             and said,
"It's not for you.
    You give to me instead. "

The hand that held the grace
           that I withdrew
 Returned empty
     and I knew

There is no grace for me
where there is none for you.

   We love because he first loved us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.  

I John 4:19

Off topic

This year I've been reading runner up classics, you know, books written by authors of classical/popular literature that never made the classics list.  Here are some examples

Rudjard Kipling: Captain Courageous
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Lost World
C.S. Lewis: Til we have faces, The Pilgrim's Regress
Ernest Hemmingway: Farewell to Arms


... among others.  It was pretty fun to explore books that I hadn't even heard of  (in some cases) written by author's whose style I already love.  Some of my favorite books are just off the main concensus.  See if you can guess the authors

Villette
Absent in the spring
Titus Andronicus
Samson Agonistes

Sometimes reading the next best thing is better than reading the work an author is famous for because you can go into it without any huge expectations.

How about you?  Do you have a favorite book by a popular/classical author that didn't quite make the best seller list?