Grace

Lately, I've been extra aware of the need for grace.

I need grace, and you need grace.

I need to give you grace, but I cannot

until I have received some grace.

Fallen and dark, this world beats us down.

Miserable all, we huddle, scrunch, self-protect.

Among rainclouds, cold wind, damp feet,

we try to breathe but the air is putrid.

Unable to suck air for ourselves

we are utterly unable to oxygenate others.

Selfishness, pride, dishonesty, fear and competition

drive us away from one another and into our own personal suffering.

Where does it end?

Where can we find the bright, shining freedom to love and give grace?

How can we learn that joy is multiplied when shared,

that kindness breeds kindness.

Beauty from ashes, that's what we crave.

I want someone to love me until I am beautiful,

and when I am beautiful, I want my beauty

to give me courage to give grace,

confident that my grace, given, will be powerful,

powerful enough to transform someone else's ashes into beauty --

and then to do it again, and again, and again

until the world has been changed.


We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19 NIV84