Today I came face to face with grace, it came as a surprise and with the powerful sense of the presence of God. God making space for grace, God opening hearts to grace, and God working to heal and to restore. It was so powerful that I had to go for a walk this evening to begin to make sense of it, to pray and to reflect and to ponder anew the depths of the love God offers.
Today I was challenged to offer forgiveness, and reminded that it is something I too need to receive, I was reminded that it is easy for me to hide from myself, and to hide myself from others. I am rarely confronted with the full truth about myself, and that even a partial revelation would bring me to my knees in proper fear and awe of the love I am offered by the one who knows me inside out and loves me more than I can begin to understand.
Today I was reminded that forgiveness is costly, costly not only for the one who offers it but also for the one who receives. The one who offers lets go of any desire for recompense or revenge, the one who receives must be open hearted and willing to own their dark-side and allow it to be seen.
This is grace, grace offered to me by the God whose ultimate letting go was letting go of life upon the cross, today I was asked to let go, and found that by the grace of God I could. In the letting go there was a blessing, in the fact that grace was received the love of God was revealed.
I could go on, but don't have the words for the cartwheels my heart is performing right now, enough to say that God is at work in us his purpose to perform...
God makes everything come out right;
he puts victims back on their feet.
He showed Moses how he went about his work,
opened up his plans to all Israel.
God is sheer mercy and grace;
not easily angered, he’s rich in love.
He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,
nor hold grudges forever.
He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,
nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth,
so strong is his love to those who fear him.
And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
he has separated us from our sins.
(From Psalm 103 The Message)
