Relationships

A Great Grace

My friends are great. They are often the source of the biggest blessings in my life and it seems like every day I find a new reason to be grateful for them. It is wonderful to know that I have people who I can turn to in good times or in bad; friends who will be there for me even if I don’t know what I need. We have fun together and just generally enjoy sharing life with one another. We love one another and they mean more to me than I can ever say.

One of the best things about my friends is that they are rarely difficult to love. Sure, we all get on each other’s nerves from time to time, but when push comes to shove we know that we’ll be there. This is something that we value and cherish, and I’m grateful that it is this way. I’ve come to realize though loving these wonderful people is nothing to be commended for. It’s easy to love them. They contribute to my life, and I genuinely enjoy their company. It’s the people who aren’t so easy to love that pose the greater challenge.

Thomas a Kempis stated, “It is no great matter to associate with the good and
gentle; for this is a naturally pleasing to all, and everyone willingly enjoyeth peace, and loveth those best that agree with him. But to be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace, and a most commendable thing.” It’s easy to love those who love us; it’s harder to love those who make life difficult.

I plan to continue to love my friends fiercely. They deserve nothing less. But I hope that as Christ showers me with His love, I will become a reservoir of His grace to others. After all, He couldn’t have found much that was lovable in me and that didn’t stop Him from dispensing His grace.

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Being Content

Content with the Common

I don’t know many people who like to think of themselves as settling. We all want to believe that we can get the best life has to offer, and although we may intellectually acknowledged that there will probably be some trade-offs and compromises along the way, we don’t want to believe that life’s treasures can’t be ours. Who gets married not thinking that they are wedding their soul mate? Who purchases a car not believing that it will just what they expected? We are hard-wired to seek out and acquire the best and we convince ourselves that the things we do are in line with this proclivity.

Except when it comes to things of the spirit. For some reason, in this one area we tend to settle for less than everything. Maybe its because we know that to achieve the ultimate we have to get up all of ourselves: a scary proposition regardless of how sold-out you are. Maybe its because the topic is ethereal and we delude ourselves to think that we won’t experience the side effects if we don’t take it for all its worth. Maybe its because we don’t life in holy fear of the consequences. Whatever the reason, it seems there are more people content to go to church and relegate discussions of the spirit to listening to a sermon from the pulpit than there are who would be willing to give up any Earthly luxury for a the same period of time. We put God in box because we are comfortable with Him being there. We can check Him off the list and move on to the things we understand, the things that can be defined, and the things that we can control. In other words, oftentimes with God we are content with the common.

The problem, of course, is that God is anything but common. When we try to define God we no longer experience Him. He is mystery and mystery can never be contained. When we don’t approach His throne with awe, we lose the potential for Him to penetrate our lives and work His transformation. And that’s why we come to God to begin with.

When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us
to worship God, filling our inner being with a fullness we
would never have thought possible. Awe prepares the way in us
for the power of God to transform us and this transformation
of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us
in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and
obedience toward God.
… James Houston

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