Susan ; Means Full of Grace.

Good Morning friends.

I know I talk a LOT about Grace. Maybe because my name means; Full of grace. As a child I thought it was something to do with how clumsy I was. I can walk into an empty room with one tiny rock on the floor and trip over that thing. Not the most graceful person ever. One thing I do strive to be is gracious. I have been reading "The ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning. I have read it several times so far and find something new every time it is so full of powerful lessons. The main theme of the book is Grace. Last night I was laying in bed thinking how best to illustrate grace. I am a visual person. The thing that came to mind was my daughter Helena, she played soccer for several seasons, I don't think they ever won more than 2 games total. That is the first place I saw where they gave everyone a trophy at the end of the season. "WHAT? What is wrong with these people? Don't they know they aren't teaching our kids anything? You don't get awards for being bad! You have to EARN the reward. Stupidest thing I ever heard of. " That was how I felt about it. Ok so I am a little over the top.
As I lay there last night I thought of that instance. We are those soccer players, We don't get judged by our wins/losses ratio or our MVP status. We are rewarded just for the sake of the reward, just for being there. "Well What will that crap teach our kids?" Grace. Grace is not earned, yet rewarded. Grace cannot be bought, borrowed or stolen, it is not deserved, but have it we do. Why? because WE SHOWED UP.
God in His mercy, gives it as a gift. No strings attached. It isn't like we have to explain to God what is in our hearts, He knows what we are thinking, doing and feeling. He created us. Our little minds have a hard time grasping how God is so much bigger then us and is all knowing. We may have skeletons in our closets, but God knows they are there. He built the closet, for goodness sakes. He knows EVERYTHING. We can't hide from Him. We don't deserve Him, But we GET Him. We have forgiveness, we have grace, we have unmerited favor. Grace is unmerited. I am a loud, tell it like it is, lay it all out and pick up the pieces later kind of person. I talk before I speak. I am bossy and manipulative and spoiled. I want my way and guess what? GOD KNOWS THAT. He knows my thoughts, my actions, my reactions. That is what grace is to me. The fact that I am who I am and it doesn't matter to Him. The more flawed we are the easier it is to understand grace. People who have nothing to give Him, have an easier time coming to Him, because they have nothing to prove. The "righteous" have a harder time. Those who "know" God, feel like they need to prove something to Him. That we need to "Get to the next level " in our Christian walk, so we what? Gain importance? Have a higher standing in church? Have a good reputation? What really matters to Him? That we love Him!
That we love others! that we understand we ARE sinners. But he loves us all the same, Mother Theresa and Marilyn Manson. We are ALL His children. And we ALL get that Grace. It is boundless. It comes with no strings attached. It is FREE. It is right here. Stop beating yourself up over pleasing Him. Just come to Him flaws and all and He will be right there with arms open wide. Have you ever hugged a very smelly person? You maybe gagging and holding your breath, but you hug them anyway? God does just that. Smelly, dirty, sinful. Wraps His arm's around us and squeezes. Just as we are. It is quite simple really. Hug Back! Absorb His grace, and you then can learn to hand out medals to those around us, And ourselves. To accept them, even when we know we don't deserve them.

Be blessed today and full of grace.

Always
Suszi