Here I am. The final morning of my three day silent retreat, and the closing days of Lent.
Grace and Abundance.
This was to be my Lenten practice; that which was to frame these past 40 days.
Grace; unmerited favor. Christy Nockels sings, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." Ahhh, yes, sweet, powerful and welcome. And a part of me fully and completely desires this grace. As the lyrics continue, "Grace flows down and covers me," I find myself oh so wanting to be drenched in this grace.
Another part of me, the "doer", the recovering perfectionist, finds it difficult to fathom that I myself, cannot DO SOMETHING to earn the favor of God. God knows I've tried...exhausted myself at times. The cycle always returns me spent AND grateful...for grace.
"This is what the Sovereign LORD,
the Holy One of Israel
says,
'Only in returning to me
and resting in me
will you be saved."
Isaiah 30:15a
And so to Him I return time and again...and rest.
Grace these past weeks, in large and small ways. Grace for the sin ever before me. Grace for my feeble, weary self. Grace to begin anew, every day. Grace, that Jesus allowed His betrayal for me.
"From his abundance we have all received,
grace upon grace."
John 1:16
More and more I will determine to live in this grace.
Abundance, the opposite of scarcity. Jesus gives out of His abundance, his very life, first and foremost. And then, because He wills not to stop there, He lavishes abundance to me in the dailiness of life. Abundance, the bliss of my grandchildren, Seaton and Nika. Abundance, Sabbath rest. Abundance, snow squalls and cardmaking garage sales. Why?! I deserve none of it. Jesus could have chosen to save me and then leave me struggling til heaven. He owes me nothing!! And yet gives and gives and gives, in abundance.
Repeatedly, grace and abundance were woven together. Truly, can they be separated???
For that which is abundant is indeed grace. And grace itself is an offering of abundance.
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