understanding grace
Grace. It’s one of those concepts that my brain starts to slowly get a grasp on and then ‘poof!’ it vanishes and I am left scrambling around in the dusty closets of my brain searching for that elusive understanding of grace. I am notorious for putting papers or items someplace ‘safe’ and usually they are truly safe because I forget where I put them. That’s really why I subscribe to the stacking method of organization–stacks you can move around, but don’t really have to put away. Hence, the important things are somewhere, oh, about 2/3’s down that one stack over there. I know where things are in stacks. I wish grace were like that. I wish grace was something I put in a stack and know exactly where it is.
I am beginning to realize that grace isn’t merely an intellectual concept to wrestle, nor is it something I bring out when I need it, but it must be lived to understand. Each day I welcome grace into my world, I learn a little more about grace. Each time I extend grace to someone else, I learn a little more what it looks like, but if I am truly trying to live an authentic life then somehow I must learn to welcome grace into my own life. I must learn to extend grace to me, not merely to other people.
I find it easier to extend grace to other people–at least outwardly–my heart is another matter. I find it difficult to extend grace to myself. I find recriminations more natural. But I am called, and you are called to live super-naturally. In the strength of God-in the grace of God. I want to explore what this looks like–join me?
grace light
I sit in the light of the full moon and night is as day. It is as though the moon is a lamp that has been turned on to dispel the darkness of a room. It’s a monthly lighting that takes my breath away by it’s beauty. When the moon reaches it’s fullness the things that I know are there in my yard…the maple trees and blue spruces and even the hog barns…are illuminated gently, yet definitively so. When the time comes for the ‘new moon’ and the night is at it’s darkest night, the truth remains that the trees and the buildings are still there. I know this even though I cannot see it.
I have found grace to be like that as well. Sometimes I see things clearly lit by grace and other times I have to believe the truth of what is true. It is in those full grace times when I see the truth that I am loved unconditionally, that my security is found in the truth of who God is, and that I can be fearless and courageous. However, it is in the times when my world is dark and grace cannot seem to cast its light into the dark corners that I have to believe the truth that I am loved unconditionally, that through Christ I am fearless and courageous, and that I rest secure in God because He says I can. They say that seeing is believing, but I think believing is seeing. If we want to see, we must believe.
We must believe first and ask God to open our eyes to see.
Everyday.
In every way.
I want to see the grace that He freely gives.
Sometimes that’s hard because His grace points me in directions that bring me suffering because I am needing to give up some pet sin that I continue to feed and take care of or a habit or way of thinking about myself that He wants to bring under His sanctifying healing touch. It’s then that I long for the gentle illumination of grace and when I get outside of myself–away from my external and internal distractions and simply look to Him, I see clearly.
And I welcome grace.
Hello there!
Who am I? That is the age old question any of us ask–who are we, exactly? The easy answer is that I am a late-thirties something woman, wife of 18 years, mother of four children, worship leader, homeschooling mother, and friend. The hard answer is that I am still becoming. It is a journey that unfolds day by day, circumstance by circumstance, strength to strength, weakness to weakness. This little place will be a documentation of that journey to becoming. I believe life lived is to be shared. Life is not a solo experience. I want to share the journey and in some small way encourage fearlessness and courage in living life. I am learning to welcome grace into my life. I want to share that grace with you.
You. Who are you? You could be a mother, a wife, a single woman, a friend, a pastor. You could be motherless. You could be a grandmother. You could be a doctor or a checker at the local big box store. That’s the easy answer. The hard answer is that you are becoming as well. The beautiful answer is that when we welcome grace, when we open our arms to grace we ‘become’ bit by slow bit.
In this place, we will explore grace and brokenness and freedom. In order to get there we will examine the things that prevent us from welcoming grace, embracing brokenness and celebrating freedom. At the end of the year I hope we have accomplished opening our arms a little wider to grace.
Welcome grace.
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