A Space For Grace

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound..." If you've spent any amount of time in church or around the churched you are, no doubt, familiar with this hymn. I sang this to myself yesterday and immediately paused after that line. How sweet...why sweet? What is it about the sound of grace that makes it music to our ears. As Philip Yancey askes, in his award winning book, what is it that is so amazing about grace?

We live in a world where we are taught two wrongs do in fact make a right. Our society teaches us to rip apart and serve on a platter those who have crossed us. If you doubt this for even a second think about how quickly we turned on Jon and Kate Plus 8, when they were less than perfect. As if we are warriors on a jaded crusade to out the posers, we offer up the less than perfect to the slaughter.

I imagine the thing that is so sweet about the sound of grace is simply the contrast of it. The sound is sweet, the act so amazing because it is elusive. Philip Yancey says in his book (If you've never read it, do yourself the favor.) "Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe,  and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet." I think most of us would agree that sinners need grace. But what about the saints? Friends if your understanding of the Word and salvation has made you bitter towards mistake makers, I dare say you have missed the point. I've been dealing with this a lot in the last couple years. So much room and understanding I had for the lost, after all they don't know any better. But when it came to the brethren, how quickly I was to judge and cast aside. "You knew better and you did it anyway! You deserve your mess! You deserve for me to embarrass you in public." I would think to myself. News flash: We all deserve our mess. If we are playing this game based on what  we have coming to us, everyone loses. My fabulous Pastor's wife said once that "When we respond to hurt with love, the world gets to see Jesus." Grace does the most good, when it is least deserved. Every time we respond to hurt with more hurt, we ruin our witness. 

So give grace, give it til it hurts. He did. Give the kind of grace you'd hope to receive. If we can not allow people to be human it is most likely because we think of ourselves higher than we ought to. At the end of the day, do you really want to be the one yelling "Crucify him." Don't free the Barabas inside of you, in an effort to be right. Save a space in your heart for grace friends!

Be Still Clothing Company I just love all of their stuff! 

This Be Still is from another verse, but I'm going to use it anyway. ;) 

The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still. Ex. 14:14 

Technical Difficulties: Our T.V. Free Week

"What do you think about shutting off the T.V. for a week?" Like some sort of guerrilla warrior I dropped the bomb out of thin air.  "A what now?" my husband responded. "A T.V. Free Week. I think we are sucked in." With MUCH hesitation in his voice my husband agreed. 

We had gotten way to comfortable with having the T.V. on.... A LOT! We were eating in front of the T.V. 5 or so nights a week. The kids had gotten to point where they had assumed it was one of their inalienable rights as a member of the family. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Cartoons I realized something needed to be done when my son had a fit when I told him he couldn't have the T.V. on one afternoon. They play outside a lot but on rainy days they just want to vegetate. I said "That's enough T.V. for the day." With a groan from deep within he replied "Noooooo. I need to watch it! If you don't let me watch it I will be unhappy the rest of the day." It was like a siren went off, Houston we have a problem. First of all I do not respond well to manipulation tactics. Second the fact that he thought it would alter his entire day and mood was a serious problem. 

How did I get here? I was the Mom that was super anal retentive about T.V. time. We don't allow them to have game devices yet, they aren't permitted to have a television in there room. But here we were suckling off the teat of the boob tube. And even though I heard from some parents that the amount of time they were spending was nothing compared to their child's screen time, I was not okay with this. 

So starting last Monday we went one full week without the television. No learning movies online, none of it. I just knew this was going to bring us closer as a family. I had these visions of us playing board games and chuckling to ourselves. And while there was some of that. There was also a lot of down time fights. The two older boys had nothing else to do but play together which was resulting in lots of arguments and a couple open handed slaps to the chest. It seemed to me that this may have been back firing. It also made me realize that I had been using it as a babysitter and mediator far too frequently. Despite the fights we made it through, and really with far less protest than I suspected. We got about 200 minutes worth of reading in. Played a board game nearly every night, and I'm sure saved on some electric. 

Best of all it worked like a reset. Last night we sat down to the table to eat, no questions asked. They watched one show with breakfast and outside they went. No begging for another and then another. Asking for audio books instead of videos. Bondage no matter what form it comes in is never okay. If you feel like you MUST do anything it would do you well to remove it for a while. 

Now, See, I am freeing you today from the chains upon your hands... Jeremiah 40:4a 

Your Word, Your Bond, and Your Workout.

"Faithfulness, he talked of Madame, you're enduring faithfulness." says the Dread Pirate Roberts. (That's right I just quoted the Princess Bride!) Would anyone say this of us? Are the things you say and do marked by consistency and authenticity?

Hands down the number one excuse I have heard for not getting fit, since I have started as a Beachbody Coach, is that they won't stick with it. That people can't stay motivated or consistent. If this sounds like you, let me ask you some other questions. Are you often late? Or don't show up where you say you will be? Then my friend your issue isn't fat, it's faithfulness! It is a spirit of adultery that makes us choose the comfort of the couch over the sweat of a workout. It is lust that says "I know I agreed to be there, but I'm having so much fun here." Flakiness is only cute on T.V. sitcoms, and even then its really not that cute. 

My favorite flake. 

This may seem harsh, and it is, but its harsh because the problem is much larger than whether or not you get fit. Your word is your bond. If we tell people that Jesus is alive, and we tell them of how He has transformed our lives and then we also tell them we will be there at 2:30 and don't show up until 3, what are they supposed to think? 

All you need to say is simply "yes" or "no"; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Mat. 5:37

This is not condemnation friends, it is a challenge. Everyone runs late from time to time and people forget things, but that can't be what we are known for. Ask God to remove the disloyalty in your heart and put consistency and follow through in its place. He will do it, He did it for me! No more quitting! If you've said you are going to get fit do it! Stop being late, start showing up, you can do it!