grace

Grace.  It's a powerful word...a word that's deep, and full, and good, and so beautiful.  And I never realized how little I understood it until now.  I was reading a few days ago in Colossians, chapter 1.  Paul is telling the church at Colossae how he prays for them:  he starts every prayer with gratitude to the Lord for the faith and love they have shown because of the hope they have known in Christ...the kind of hope that is lasting, real, and comes from knowing that they have a security in a holy, might, worthy God...from knowing the truth of the gospel.  He rejoices, because they have "understood the grace of God in truth" (vs 6). 

All of that is good...there's so much there to chew on, to think about, to apply.  But it's that last part that got me...what does it mean to understand the GRACE of the Lord?  When I was little, Sunday school lessons taught me that grace is getting what I don't deserve.  It's a pretty definition, all neat in a box, and it is true...but what does that mean??  What does it mean that I get what I don't deserve?  What does it mean to really wrap your mind around grace from God Himself? 

I still don't understand it all...in fact, I would love to hear someone way wiser than I am explain it.  The prayer of my heart as I read this and tried to figure it all out was this:  "Teach me what Your grace is.  Show it to me...let me know it, let me understand it..."  I think He's still answering, but the things He showed me in response were beautiful:

That same morning, I went in to kiss my husband good-bye (not all of us have to leave the house at 6:45 ;).  As he held onto me, kissed me, told me how much he loved me...tears came to my eyes:  grace...that is grace.  To know and experience such love...love that I just don't deserve...that's grace.  My love lesson from the Lord continued:  a 40 mile ride to school in safety, my own masterpiece of color and light along the way, precious children that love me (even when I pull their tags...), the ability to work, to laugh, to love, to praise...that is grace.  He gives it so freely, so willingly...not because I deserve it, but because He is good, holy, and faithful.  Allowing me to experience His grace allows me to rejoice in who He is.

There's so much more there...the grace of His Son, the gift of the Cross, love so deep and wide it embraces all of me.  It's overwhelming.  Look for it today...rejoice in it...think about it...be thankful for it.  Don't miss it...it's there....and in finding it, in realizing it, let Him show you the depth of who He is.

...in grace...