Grace is not a philosophical construct that you can mentally get you head around [ you can't] and say you understand it [you won't]. Grace is beyond our understand and is totally illogical that's what makes it so wonderful. God bypasses the "what ifs" and the "yea but..." and "but how..." and appeals to the heart.
Grace is more of a fragrance than it is anything else I know. I really do love the smell of lilacs because they remind me of my grandparents and the huge lilac bush they had outside the kitchen window. When lilacs are in bloom, you will smell them long before you see them.
A lilac is hardy plant that can survive some pretty harsh weather, the leaves are not the prettiest, and the bush can become rather gangly if not trimmed. But all of this is for one purpose, the flower and the fragrance it gives to all who take the time to "stop and smell". Grace is like that.
Grace is free, it sticks with you and remindes you of a more gentle time when life was about more than agendas, schedules, and making money. It awakens yout to the beauty of a world that is racing headlong to the grave as if to see you can make it there first. It causes you to linger and just drink it in. Smells, color, and the warmth of spring all rolled into one. Where it comes from, why it makes you feel the way it does, and what it's purpose is are all completely irrelevant in the moment of tranformation. It is a simple gift from God to you as if to say, "I love you this much. I made this beauty just to bless you day. Have a great day."
It makes you smile and baths you in a fragrance that takes your hum-drum life and speaks of a more beautiful, peaceful time that is available to everyone. But not everyone will take time to notice.
Grace is also fleeting. It comes in waves, moments in time that were meant to awaken the senses and sharpen our awareness of God. Each gift is meant to draw us closer to God, every refusal moves us further away.
The lilac will be gone soon and so will the fragrance that I keep in my memory and my heart. But the fragrance of the gift will stay with me always and I will be forever different because it was a gift.
Now it is up to me to be the fragrance of Grace that God is working within me. To be the free gift that God offers to the world, for those who will take time to drink in the love, forgiveness, and joy. Some will, some won't. But that's not my job, my job is to grow and give the fragance of God.
Enjoy the Fragrance of God's grace.
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