It's already February, but I'm just now getting around to posting my one-word resolution for 2013. The word I've chosen this year is "grace." And, I must say that it is stretching me.
As a first-born, Type A, rule-follower, I naturally tend toward a Pharisee-type approach to life, that is everyone should follow the rules, just like I do. It wasn't a stretch when I chose a career that puts a premium on obeying the law and has very little, if any, provision for grace.
It's just been during the past few years that I've realized how little I've understood about grace. And this realization came despite having accepted Christ almost twenty-five years ago.
So as I pondered what word might capture the theme for this year, "grace" kept coming to mind. I want to grasp it, not tangibly in my hands, but to gain a deeper understanding. And then to give it to others as freely as God gives it to me.
But looking at my actions in January through the lens of grace, I failed. Not just a little. A lot. I want justice at every turn. That's my first reaction. So it's obvious that it is going to take every bit of the remaining days in 2013 to reprogram my heart and mind, with the Lord's help, to react with grace first. And to rest in that, knowing that God can hand out any justice that needs to be doled out.
Thankfully, I'm not on my own in trying to make these crucial changes. I'm grateful that His Word says, "The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live." Deuteronomy 30:6
How are you doing with your resolutions?
2 comments:
I so admire your honesty. Here's to a year of being challenged in ways we never imagined.
Hmm... I don't see this in you-- the lack of grace. YOU have taught ME so much about grace.
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