I have decided to make this my daily motto. In fact, I even designed a little thing today that I am going to get printed and framed, to put in our new home that simply says “Choose Grace.”
So I have been thinking about this today, wondering about grace. It has so many different meanings in our society today. We say “grace” over our food before we eat. We say we are saved by God’s “grace.” When my beloved clumsy child trips over a crack in the side walk, we say, “Way to go Grace.”
But today I’m thinking of grace as a verb. But not the grace that comes from God but the grace I’m supposed to GIVE. If you follow my blog, you know I’ve talked about grace before. God’s Word mentions some form of grace 127 times. So HE must think it’s important, too.
A common worldly definition is: An instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency (an act of leniency).
Ahhh. There’s the rub, as one of my favorite literary characters like to say! (That’s Father Tim from the Mitford series, by the way!) That’s the kind we don’t like to give, do we? Clemency, leniency. We like to point out other people’s short comings or faults, the times when they mess up or let us down. Or maybe it’s selective? We give it to our children when they are cute and cuddly or to the harried waitress in the restaurant when we’re feeling generous. But what about the premenstrual teenager? Or the child who can ask 200 questions in one hour? Or the husband who is on your last nerve?
I have decided that because I WANT grace from all of these people, in all circumstances, really, I’m going to work on GIVING it to them, in all circumstances, really.
HIS mercies are new every day, so I’ll work on making my grace new every day.
And because we have just moved into a new “house” and we are working on making a fresh start, I’ll hang my little “Choose Grace” sign for all to see, and hopefully, I’ll live an example for all in my HOME to see, and maybe, just maybe, others will choose grace too.
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