Gifting Grace

It’s one of those words that seems to follow you around, lurking in the shadows or hitting you head-on as you round a corner.  You begin to see it on advertising billboards, car license plates and the daily devotional you read each morning.  The word gets your attention and you begin to pay attention. 

A few weeks ago I began to read Philip Yancey’s book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”  Now this book is over twenty years old so I was prepared for a bit of ‘outdatedness’ but I was pleasantly and admittedly convicted, as to how relevant the message of grace is even more so in our world today.  As I read his words and stories, I am faced with the ungraciousness in my own life and how far along this road I have yet to travel.  All of us daily encounter opportunities to extend grace and if we don’t, God will continue to give us those opportunities until our eyes are opened to how closed our hands have become.   My mind and heart, along with my hands, are opening to His grace to me and how I extend that same grace to those He brings into my life. 

What I did become aware of this past week is the grace that comes from His gifts.  This visual Scripture was in my email folder a couple of days ago and again, it is the word that jumped from the screen into my heart.  

God’s grace has various forms.  It can be revealed to us in His gifts.  It can become flesh to us through how we serve Him and others.  As He extends His grace to us, we give it to those around us.  

Grace:  the undeserved forgiveness, kindness, and mercy that God gives us.  

1 Corinthians 12 talks about God’s spiritual gifts, as does Romans 12.  We all have gifts, some stronger and more evident than others.  We can get caught up in trying to figure out where we fit into the family of God and the body, by taking tests and discerning what gift(s) we have.  This can be good and helpful in the long run, but what if as we receive His grace, we simply be ourselves (becoming the person Christ is shaping)  and give back that grace in generous gifts to others.  Who are you and what do you love to do? What makes you come alive? 

An example might be, I love to cook, so having people over for a meal or providing a meal for someone in need, is an act of grace.  My ‘gift’ (which can be interpreted as serving) touches another life with God’s grace—His love, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy.

I have a few friends in my life of whom I can truly say ‘I love their laugh’.  They are the type of people others love to be around.  Their laugh is contagious.  They lighten up a potential heavy scenario. You can hear their laugh from across the room and it is always uplifting.  I daresay laughter can be a gift.  Perhaps that falls into the area of encouragement.  When they laugh, they lighten the life of another.  Sharing their gift and extending the grace of God in its various forms.  Whoever thought of laughing as a gift?  

I’m sure some of us can also say that about the smile of a friend.  I have a couple of friends who shed light on my life just by their smile.  Somehow through that simple facial expression, love, kindness, mercy, joy, and grace shine through and touches me.  Smiling is a gift….maybe…..again encouragement perhaps. 

There’s a never-ending list of gifts or natural abilities that can easily come under the headings of those in Corinthians or Romans.  Reading, writing, teaching, speaking, telling stories, praying, smiling, touching, ability to sense hurt or disappointment and reaching out (sensitivity), giving finances as well as time, showing mercy, taking the lead, organization — so many things we do in our normal day-to-day life that we think of as just stuff or tasks can actually be God’s grace in a form we have yet to recognize.  Even a simple phone call, a note of appreciation or stopping in the grocery aisle to say hello puts grace in the flesh for some of us.  Just showing up in someone’s life shouts GRACE.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. “   Romans 12:1  The Message Version

What if in 2018, we embraced grace, God’s grace, in its various forms and allowed our gifts to faithfully serve Him and others.  Whatever that looks like, I am sure each one of us has several areas we can be ‘grace in the flesh’ to each other.

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Cleaning House

The difficult part is done.  The tree is taken down, decorations put away and furniture back in its place.  Those three loads of laundry — sheets and towels from guests — are washed and sorted.   All that is left really is to dust and clean floors, and yes, those ubiquitous bathrooms.  Well, someone’s got to do it. 

The first week of January is a strange week to begin resolutions, good intentions or goals, whatever is the trendy phrase these days.  For some of us, and I dare say, most of us women anyway, it involves putting our lives (physically and emotionally) back into order.  The family and guests have left and now we must re-order and rearrange to get back to some normalcy. For some, the day after New Years involves getting up and returning to work, the housework to come later when the weekend arrives.  

If we were able to have that first peaceful hour in the morning to have our coffee and think about the New Year and setting some goals into place, it appears they must wait until the week plays out before jumping in with determination.  As I sat with my journal this morning and wrote out some of my thoughts and scheduling my week(s) for 2018, it became clear I couldn’t even begin the discipline until next week.  At least the full-on idea of what I want to achieve.  And that is alright for me, for now.  The reality of ‘my new year begins next Monday’ is okay.  The date doesn’t matter - the heart, mind, and soul do.  If I take the first seven days of the new year to ponder, pray and put it down on paper, then I’m better prepared to tackle the new year, next week.   The last seven days of 2017 did not afford me the adequate time due to visiting family, guests and a bit of travel.  I do not need to be a slave to the calendar, it needs to serve me.  Whew, big deep breath! 

Today, I will clean.  Just now I finished reading the twelfth chapter of Hebrews in the Message version.  The writer emphasizes focusing and running our race.  My ‘one word’ for 2018 is FOCUS. http://myoneword.org/ The chapter ends with the following:

So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!  (The Message, Hebrews 12:25-29)

What excited my heart was ‘cleaning house’.  Probably the only time that has happened :)  Today I will tackle cleaning house but with a new focus.  Cleaning the clutter of what distracts me.  Removing what clutters my focus.  I have so many interests and so much stuff.  What can I remove to make my life simpler?  What can I put away…..or better yet, get rid of, to make room for the new?  Or to be left bare so there is more room.    As I move about dusting and rearranging, I have a new focus which should help me in the long run of the months that loom ahead.  My prayer on my lips will be, “Lord, enable me to see what needs to be removed, so I have more room for YOU.”  Cleaning house this first week of January takes on new meaning as I contemplate 2018.  

May our FOCUS be more of Him, more of family and relationships, more of making room for the things we love.  For me, it also means making room for writing, which will happen….the second week of January :)  

footnote...for a few you may have wondered if I dropped out of blogging.  Not necessarily, I blog a lot in my mind!  I'm working (albeit slowly) on a book and trying to figure out how to balance my efforts between research, writing, and blogging.  That said, I will blog when I can and see if I can get this book written this year.  Your prayers are appreciated :) 

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