MONDAY MORNING.... Checked my computer and was glad to see it was working. It's the start of another new week and I hope it is better than the one we just finished...Spent hours trying to correct problems with my computer...attended several meetings of organizations that I volunteer for and two of them were so boring and long you could have cut the boredom with a knife (speakers spoke too long and said nothing)...had a couple of appointments set up and all but one of them canceled...took some time off to spend with one of our daughters who was camping at Lake George and it rained buckets on the way and while we were there (did get to shop some outlets and save a couple of dollars) ...the whole week was one frustration after the other...and finished with two weddings on Saturday.
Yet, not all the week was frustration. I could spend some time with John Hoyt who ended up in Kingston hospital and I could help him and work out some the needs he faced. Even found I could volunteer to feed his parakeets and got to know them a bit better as the supplier of their food and water. The computer came back in time, even a bit late, to send the bulletin to Dan and I remember typing that Sunday was the deadline for the Newsletter...never even sank in and I went on my way. Then, was on the computer this morning and Merry said to someone else, "If you want to add to this, I will be getting the Newsletter done by Wednesday." I HAD DONE NOTHING FOR THE NEWSLETTER.... EVEN THOUGH I KNEW SUNDAY WAS THE DEADLINE!!!! Ah, but there it was...a little bit of a thing called grace. I still had time to get in touch with Merry... I still could get my letter in the publication, even though it was late and if I had not told you all this, you would never know, only Merry and I would be aware of it. GRACE ABOUNDS.
Started me thinking about grace... something we take for granted in most of our life and faith, yet the very core of all that we find in our relationship with God. Paul writes over and over about grace. We are saved by grace so that none of can boast as to how holy we are...We are not saved by our works or our righteous living, but only by grace. It is a free gift from God to all who seek His love and mercy. It is grace that gives us another chance, like Merry did for me to get this item in the Newsletter. It is mine as a gift and a free gift as well. It is the action of God, which tells us, to try again and to learn in the process of our encounter with Him. It comes into our lives over and over again, day after day, as we fail so many times; yet, He welcomes us back and says that is what grace is all about. It is what the old hymn is talking about when it says that grace comes down from heaven above and floods over our soul in His infinite mercy and love... Un-deserved, un-merited...not even asked for by most of us, but always there to flood and cleanse our souls.
It's yours as well as mine. The fact that God loves us openly and freely and He comes to us not in wrath and judgment, but in love and grace. He embraces us and enfolds us in His arms of love and mercy and gives us the gift of grace. Look for it in this week and even if it is a week that may turn out like my "bad week" last week, in it you will still find grace. I did, as it all finally worked out and I could even slide under the deadline by the grace of Merry. So too do we all find ourselves in the presence of God's love and grace, even when days are dark and weeks are lousy and not enjoyable. His grace will always be there to enfold and enrich us no matter what may come in life... It's His gift to each one of us and all we need to do is reach out and take it.
GRACE BE TO YOU AND PEACE BY THE MERCY OF THE LIVING GOD