Chapter 1 - Waking: Grace

Waking: Grace

“This reality (that we begin each day beloved by God) seeps out of my soul quickly.  Days can pass in a bluster of busyness, impatience, and distraction.  I work to build my own blessedness, to strive for a self-made belovedness.  But each morning in those first tender moments - in simply being God’s smelly, sleepy beloved - I again receive grace, life, and faith as a gift.  Grace is a mystery and the joyful scandal of the universe” (20).

One of my favorite things about reading (and there are many favorite things about this beloved frequent pastime of mine) presents itself in the realization that others too are experiencing the same things that I am.  Obviously the opposite is true as well - how glorious to dive into other people’s experiences and thoughts so different from my own! - but in this paragraph, I feel a firm tug of kindred spirit connection with humanity.  It’s a relief to know that I am not alone in experiencing hectic days, growing tired of waiting, and losing focus on what I ought to be doing in any given week.  

I breathe in with the thankfulness that grace enables me to live with on a daily basis, and I breathe out with contentment at resting in God’s care.  Too often throughout a typical day, I put pressure on myself to “do it all” and to do it well.  Just breathing in and out with the peace of God’s embrace, and in fact, enjoyment, of my existence, in spite of all its messiness, restores my soul.  The scandal - an action that was legally wrong and caused public outrage - was Jesus surrendering His perfect life in return for my messy, sin-stained one.  “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.”  II Corinthians 5:21 decidedly declares.  Nothing good that I can do could possibly repay this ultimate sacrifice, and nothing bad that I do can affect its truth.  What a thing to take in day after day!  Hallelujah!