Living with Grace

I intend to live with Grace for the rest of my life.  And I can hear someone say “But what happened to Carolyn?  I thought you were going to live with Carolyn for the rest of your life?”

I am.  Carolyn is my main squeeze.  She is the delight of my life, my love, my joy, my best friend.  When I say “I intend to live with grace” I’m not talking about a person, but a set of actions.  Grace is a state of mind.  It is a way of conducting my affairs with mankind and grace is a gift from God that you and I receive on an ongoing basis.

Three ladies let me go in front of them yesterday at Costco.  I had three items and they had twenty-three.  That was grace.

My friend Morris arrived back at his car just as the patrolman was about to write him a ticket for parking past the limit on the meter.  Morris was shown grace.

My neighbor Sandy was given a warning and not a ticket for speeding through the small town of Yelm, WA.  That was grace.

Grace happens whenever we receive mercy and forgiveness when we should have received punishment or a reprimand. 

And sometimes, it is given just because … just because of love.

Remember the woman caught in adultery?  She received grace with the words “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”

And Zacchaeus … he received grace when he was called down from the sycamore tree.  Christ wanted to have a meal with him, not lecture him.

Grace is where I want my focus to be.  We can find something wrong with anything or anyone if we look long and hard enough.  We can dispense condemning words, we can judge, we can call out wrongs, and we can find weaknesses anywhere anytime. 

But what about grace?

So what if another driver cut in front of you today?  Maybe he had an emergency, or it is his wife’s birthday and he is rushing to get home sooner than later. 

So what if it was your turn for ice cream and three small kids cut line?  Did you really suffer all that much?  Maybe it is your day to give a bit more grace.

I love talking about grace for I am a recipient of great grace. 

My faults far outweigh my good points, yet grace abounds.

My actions aren’t always pure and holy, yet grace abounds.

Sometimes I have wars and rumors of wars – in my mind – with someone who did me wrong thirteen years ago.  Yet grace flows down.

Grace Flows Down.

That is it.  The grace of God flows down and fills us and washes over us even in the middle of our mundane and miserable lives. 

We don’t deserve it.  We don’t act like grace-filled people most of the time.  And we don’t give enough to pay the debt that this grace surely costs. 

And it flows down anyway.

I like living with grace.  I like dispensing grace every chance I get. 

‘Cause I get a lot of grace in bushels and basketfuls.

“It is by grace that you are saved.”

… “Oh for grace to trust HIM more”

P Michael Biggs

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