My daughter says that I should write again...so here goes.
Sometimes life is really hard.
There are so many things around us that can so easily elicit a bad response....a grace-less response. We have so many reasons to be angry, disgusted, justifiably outraged.
My hubby and I have been thinking very deeply about Grace lately. What does it look like? Where do we apply it? Are there limits to how much grace we show? Where do we draw the line?
It occurred to me today, (you'd think I'd remember this more often) that my name means "Little Ann" or "Gracious One" and what if God led my parents to name me as they did so that I would be inspired to be just that?
God's brand of grace is "freely given, unmerited favor".
That's not the way I've lived. I've expected everything I give to be deserved. It's a sad way to live. It breeds bitterness, dissatisfaction and loneliness.
Jesus, in the face of unfounded, rude, disgusting, sinful responses......loved. He quietly listened, answered wisely and sacrificed everything so he could save those who ridiculed him.
I am at a massive crossroads in my life...my kids are all grown up, my schedule has changed drastically, my purpose in life has been turned inside out and upside down, and I often wonder how I got here and what God has in store for me?
Sometimes we are placed in really tough situations and we wonder, if it's so tough then maybe it's not where I belong? But. What if we are put in difficult circumstances so that we are refined? Or so we have a chance to show sacrificial grace to someone else? Or so we become stronger? Hey, what if it's not for us at all but for someone else?
Our culture has given us such self-centered, prosperity based views that we always try to escape trying times. We skirt around the needs we see, avoid the awkward people or the weird situations that make us squirm, all the while forgetting that we might be needed there. We seek out comfort like ostriches, our heads buried in the sand of denial and pride. We judge at first sight, forgetting that people wear facades and their real needs are more like internal bleeding than visible emergencies.
I want so much to love. To love like Jesus did. But I have failed. Over and over and over.
I wish I could go back to the places where I failed.....my kids (thank God for grace), my husband (thank God for grace), my family (thank God for grace), my friends and neighbors (thank God for grace). Without him filling in the gaps for me I would be nothing.
We are so eager to receive but so reluctant to give.
If I expect God to give so freely to me but not give to those around me in return, then I am no different than the servant who owed his master money and so selfishly demanded payment after he had received grace so freely.
There are never limits on how much we show grace. There was no limit on the cross. I can give in humility. I can give at the expense of my reputation. I can give unmerited favor because it would be to the glory of God.
I've been reading a book called "And It Was Beautiful" by Kara Tippets, a collection of memoirs she wrote through her cancer journey....my goodness! What a beautiful, sacrificial life of love and grace! We really shouldn't wait for the "cancers" of life to wake us up to the need of the world around us! Let's live deeply now!!
By Grace.....a gift of God.
Anita
