embrace the gift

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

These words by legendary distance runner Steve Prefontaine capture much of what matters (or ought to matter) in life.

What is the gift? The gift is that which is primarily and ultimately unearned. What we have received is the gift. That to which we are given access is the gift. Talents, abilities, insights, capacities–these are all included in the gift. Do you have a special knack for something that is good and right? Are you able to see things that most others miss? Do you possess a certain perceptiveness that nearly everyone else lacks? Is there a compassion or a kindness that radiates from your life? All of these things are aspects of the gift. The gift is full and free. Indeed, it is life itself with it’s countless challenges and opportunities. In the final analysis, the gift is that which originates in our Maker and flows to and through us. It is God’s power, presence, and mysterious love permeating our hearts and lives, and it is our proper awareness of these most relevant things. The gift is sacred. The gift is good. Embrace the gift. By faith, embrace the gift.

mercy and grace

Mercy and grace. These are fairly common words that aptly describe what I always need but only occasionally recognize.

To receive mercy is to have what one truly deserves withheld. Grace, on the other hand, is the reception of blessings that one has not earned. To put it bluntly, I have earned God’s disfavor, and I have no claim on anything that is good. Or, it can be stated this way: my own stupidity and foolish choices–stupidity and foolishness that I display at varying levels each day–leave me in a place where I should be smacked and should never experience anything positive. Yet, goofy as I often am, mercy and grace meet me, even when I don’t notice it.

My hope is anchored to these words or rather to the realities they depict. I often act, live, and think like a spiritual imbecile, a rebellious fool, and somehow God refrains from casting me aside. Moreover, he actually showers blessings on me. Go figure!

“Lord, please enable me to see much more clearly how much you love me. I realize that I don’t get it. I admit that I am a rebel whose rebellion is all too common. Don’t abandon me though, Lord, and keep immersing my family and me in your goodness. Allow mercy and grace, those twin divine characteristics, those ever-needed divine responses, to propel me/us in a good direction. Mercy and grace, mercy and grace. I would be nothing without mercy and grace. Thank you.”