 Hannah's story begins the book of Samuel, and Hebrew listeners would have known that her name means Grace. So it is Grace pleading in the temple for God to give her a son, and Grace eventually changing her request from a son for herself to a seed for the people. It is Grace who stands up to power by speaking her truth, and Grace who receives the very blessing of the one who could have had her killed. We so often see God's grace in the New Testament that we miss it in the old, even though it is there, right at the beginning of this book describing the gathering together of the people of God into a unified kingdom. Grace frames all the stories of 1 Samuel, and Samuel means both name of God and God has heard. To be held by Grace is a powerful thing, and even the conflicted, murderous, and disobedient that pepper this book are held by Grace as well, which means that no matter how you or I respond to our calling from God, there is Grace enough for that too.