A Place of Grace

For the audio version of this post, click below:

This is how I began my new year: chock full of mistakes but thankfully tempered with a sense of humor.  I used to have high aspirations every year and make resolutions, but I quit doing that due to the disappointment of repeatedly failing.  Hey, look!  I quit something! LOL!

Old habits are hard to kick, and new habits are hard to develop, but I want instant change!  I don’t have the wherewithal for thirty days of grueling discipline! I want to get rid of all my terrible habits overnight, but it doesn’t happen.

Thankfully, God’s expectations and his timetable are not the same as ours.  In Psalm 90, verse 4, it says, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.”

Not only is God’s perception of time so different from ours, He is patient with us. 

In 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 8 through 9, Peter reminds us: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Now, if God himself is so patient and gracious with us, we’re allowed to give ourselves grace, too!  Besides, it was never about becoming “perfect enough” for anyone, including ourselves—who our own worst critics.  It’s about our journey with the Lord that enables us to grow closer to him as we invite him to change us. 

God loves us just as we are now; though he sees our brokenness and the reality of our struggles, he accepts us as we are with all our “stuff.”  Yet, he is able to see us as he originally made us—whole and unblemished, free from baggage.  Still, he helps us to heal and return to his original design for us before things of this world crept in. 

And, when we stumble along the way, God doesn’t beat us up as we might often do.  He helps us up and dusts us off and encourages us to try again.  He is the God whose mercy triumphs over judgment, the same one that encourages us to forgive seven times seven times—the very same God who is faithful to forgive when we ask and who lifts us up whenever we fall down.  Yet, he doesn’t rush us either.

So, let’s resolve to keep changing and growing but maybe with a different perspective.  A very wise woman once told me—the only thing that matters is that we continue to be transforming children of God.  We are his beloved works in progress, and He is patient with us.  As long as we are open and seeking his leading, we are all transforming children of God, making incremental steps back toward his original design for each of us, his masterpieces in the making!

We have time—God’s time—and we already have his unconditional love.  Remembering this can free us to make resolutions and keep growing this year—not out of pressure or striving—but from God’s place of grace and encouragement.