grace has turned out to be the perfect word for my year already. turns out i needed more of grace in my life than i thought. i know it's been said and i'm not about cliches, but God gave me this word. He knows His daughter well enough to know what she needs and when and also the appropriate dosage.
when i had to schlep my kids to Target 3 times in one week, i didn't expect there to be any glimpse of grace. i mean, this is mundane grocery shopping and even going to Target gets old. but then, stopping for a bite to eat at the in-store Starbucks because it's 2pm and we haven't had lunch yet, our pace slows down. they say grace before they share a snack and i breathe it in.
we cover a wall with reclaimed wood and the project that was supposed to take a week turned into the longest, hardest month for me and grace. every day was me practicing grace and patience and gift-counting amid the sawdust and ladders and still unfinished wall. every day i looked at the wall and at my husband and dug deep for fresh grace to be the eryn i want to be. when he brought the last board to be nailed high up on the ceiling, we all signed it and i'm super proud of my husband and really ashamed that i lost my cool. it's just a wall. and i breathe in grace.
it's a bitter cold January in Texas but the sun comes out and we make time to go see the shopping center's new murals. i tell my kids that these murals were designed by my dear sweet friend, and our conversation turns to friendships and gifts and talents and potential and opportunity and making brick walls beautiful. and i realize that if i wasn't here now, if we hadn't moved, if i hadn't said yes to Declare, these murals wouldn't even be on my radar. i'm suddenly so thankful for God's timing and provision. and i breathe in grace, again.
this one turns 9 and has a slumber party at a hotel. she is surrounded by her sweet friends and they are dressed fancy at the dinner table ordering their own dinner. i celebrate with her; this is our birthday. but my mom gets sick and misses the party and refuses to go to the doctor and i am frustrated. i pray for her healing. but i'm still a bratty child mad at my mom, who is in bed for the fifth day in a row and sounds like a chain-smoker hacking and coughing. grace reminds me that i am not the boss. grace reminds me to pray in faith. grace reminds me anger gets me nowhere. i breathe it in, this amazing grace.
i just can't help but think this common word was chosen for me on purpose so i am able to see things in an uncommon way. i love how grace has this ripple-effect of goodness, like dominoes or bowling pins, one moment of grace knocking into another, and witnessing God's great work all around. i am overcome with gratitude, and i pray to be a faithful steward of God's grace.
...and that's what's been going on around here lately:)
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16
