Andyouinvitedmein’s Weblog

My daughters are beyond wonderful. My heart sings just by thinking about them. There is rarely a moment when we’re out of sorts with each other.

Right now as I write I can smell the turnip greens and black-eyed peas cooking in our two crock pots for tomorrow. We’re having a Southern meal as my oldest is bringing home her friend from Russia. It gives me joy to get ready and make her day (or her sister’s) the best it can be. Consider how much more God loves us…(more to come with this one–give me a couple of hours I’ve got to entertain)…

The meal was good and our guest loved the Southern cooking. However, he asked about grits: “I don’t even know what they are,” he said.

How do you explain grits? I almost told him they were hominey, but unless you know about hominey then that doesn’t make any sense either. Just like grits, there is no way to explain or understand grace even though we talk about it all the time—even though it is the foundation of our faith.

We have a glimpse of grace as with our love for our children. No matter how frustrating or maddening they can be at times, there is nothing we wouldn’t do for them. Now with that in mind think about the people around you. Who is the most difficult to love? Next, who is the most difficult to love without condition?

For me—well, yesterday grace was difficult when I went to church to help with an upcoming mission trip. It was silly, but I got exasperated because the materials weren’t sorted like I would have done it.  A bit later it took 3 hours for an eye exam and to order glasses. Today it’s about the guy next door who leaves his dog out in the weather. We think he’s gone and the dog is without food (we took the bow-wow some). Tomorrow it will be another situation presented to test my “grace response”, and I’ll probably fall short of the mark. I just keep on trying to do what Jesus said: Love your neighbor as yourself.

As I worked toward loving myself less and others more, I began to notice a change within my heart. At the church, my daughter and I ended up working at a table with two older ladies and it was a complete joy to talk with them about art, even though it wasn’t where I wanted to sit. Later when I wanted to scream at the optical place, I persevered to get my much-needed glasses orders, and by the end I found out they were hiring and got an application for my oldest…

….I’m totally amazed at how God can change my heart as he teaches me about grace.