Review: Gracenomics

by Mike Foster

is there anything we want—or need— more desperately than grace?

and yet, is there anything we find more difficult than extending this same grace we crave to others?

this dichotomy is addressed beautifully in a book by Mike Foster entitled, Gracenomics. Foster, co-founder of People of the Second Chance, defines Gracenomics as ' the science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of grace.' {p. 15}

unfortunately, the world we live in does not have to work hard to convince us that there isn't much grace to go around. anyone who has ever made a mistake or misjudgment only to be pounced upon by an online (or live) chorus of boo-ing and stone throwing, knows that grace isn't the default reaction when people feel wronged. But Foster, his book, and his organization strive to change that, one person at a time.

Gracenomics is packed with pithy subtitles, like 'Pez Dispensers of Grace', 'Don't Trust Your Blink Brain', 'People Are Not Evil, They Are Weak', and 'Grace is the New Black', along with thought-provoking quotes, and excellent real-life examples of grace in action. this book cannot help but inspire, challenge, convict and spur its readers on to becoming grace dispensers themselves. i know that it did all these things for me.

while this may have started out as just one of the 75 books i'm reading this year, it has ended up changing me— someone who has always struggled with both receiving and dispensing grace— in ways i cannot begin to put into words, and i have a sneaky suspicion that it's not finished with its impact on my life yet.