The Gift of Grace...

The Gift of Grace…

There are two weeks left of my middler year in seminary.  I can hardly believe it.  I recently looked back on some of my earliest blog posts and thought, how different things feel since the fall of 2011!  I am different, I have changed, I have grown, and most importantly, my relationship with God has flourished.  How can it not, I am surrounded by God everywhere I look, and for that I am thankful.

Life is difficult sometimes though.  Friends get sick, people hurt our feelings, we miss the comforts of home, people we love so much move, and we have to feel all of the emotions but also be open to were God is leading us. 

I have felt a bit of rejection this semester in several aspects of my life.  In the past, I probably would have lost control and thought my life is over.  I am not saying I have not felt hurt by these rejections, but I am learning to search for the grace in them -  God’s grace that is extended to me each and ever day. 

I recently used the following metaphor in a sermon for class.  Several classmates comment on how they really felt it spoke to them when thinking about grace.  I would like to share it with you, the people I care so deeply about.

At my house in Birmingham I have a very large yard with lots of plants and trees. In the summer it needed lots of watering.  I would drag the hose away from the house so that I could get to all my plants and trees that were thirsty and needed a little drink.  I stand there and aim the spray nozzle at the plants and pull the trigger.  Nothing happens.  I go back to make sure the faucet is really turned on so that the water is flowing into the hose. It is. I go back and pick up the nozzle and point it again and pull the trigger. Again, nothing.  What’s wrong?  I finally realize that somewhere in the length of that hose there’s a kink that’s stopping the flow of the water. The fault isn’t with the water pressure; the water is pushing to come out and drench the thirsty plants.  So I go back the length of the hose and find the one or more kinks and work them out.  Then the water that’s already there is free to flow.

Like the water in the hose, the grace of God is not lacking.  It doesn’t need to be boosted.  It’s already turned on by God’s love.  But often it can’t flow in our life because we are blocking God’s grace by our wrong attitudes, habits, or neglect of spiritual discipline.  We have to identify those blocks that stop the flow of God’s grace.  We have to ask God to help us with these things that block His loving grace to us.  This is difficult and we often fall short, but it is essential to grow in grace with God.

Thank you to those that extend me grace each and everyday.  Thank you God for allowing me to understand that showing grace to others is essential to who we are as Christians.  Bottom line, we are children of God and because of that fact we deserve to be loved and shown grace.

Blessings as the ride continues…  Mary Balfour