{Lovely}

A mug of hot chocolate and a cold Krispy Kreme donut for breakfast. Currently sitting in the sun-room of my house. My forearm is sore from lifting heavy sweet-tea canisters at Chick-Fil-A several times a day. But all in all, it’s lovely here.

I like lovely things, you know? Lovely things are nice. And I like them.

You know what’s lovely? Holding a sleeping baby. Discovering new music that you love. Waking up from a nap and feeling the sunset on your face. Long, tight hugs. A crisp and clear autumn morning. Holding eye-contact with someone you love. The flickering light from a vanilla candle. A cozy mug of coffee or hot chocolate (with marshmallows). When a warm hand holds your cold hand. When your soul suddenly connects with another soul. When it snows. Late-night thoughts. When someone catches your obscure movie references. When you bite into a warm brownie and there are chocolate chips inside. When your soul is brimming with so many emotions and thoughts and feelings that it could burst. Hearing unexpectedly from a friend. Remembering good times. When a particular song invokes warm feels. Snickering at inside-jokes. Not taking life too seriously. Falling asleep on Christmas Eve. Forehead kisses. Bedhead hair. White Christmas lights. Seeing a father who just adores his daughter. Grandparents. Those little mints that restaurants give out sometimes. Big down-comforters.

And God’s limitless and reckless grace. That is so lovely.

God’s grace takes so many different forms. It heals so many different wounds. It convicts so many various hearts. His grace.

Grace gives us the strength to answer in kindness when met with cruelty. Grace gives us hope. Grace washes away every stain. Grace meets us where we are and takes us where we couldn’t go on our own merit. Grace breaks our stone-cold hearts. Grace convicts us of our sin. Grace holds us while we sob. Grace motivates us. Grace is beautiful. It always has been and it always will be.

I’ve experienced that grace to new heights recently. It has broken me. It has humbled me. It has rebuilt me, but in a different way. It has humbled me deeply, but it has given me hope. Yes. It has rebuilt me.

And yet I think people cheapen grace in so many ways. Grace often becomes a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card. It becomes a justification for sin. It becomes a scummy fallback. It becomes a comeback line. “You can’t punish me because grace.” “I can sin because there’s always grace.” “They shouldn’t have reacted that way to my sin. They should have grace.” “I can do what I want because grace is unconditional.”

“Should we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means! How can a man who has ‘died to sin’, live in it?” –Romans 6:1-2

God’s grace is unconditional. People’s grace is not. It should be, but that’s a whole other discussion. People cannot be expected to have boundless grace. I’m not sure we’re even capable of it, in our humanness. People who appear to have limitless grace are able to do so only because they are distributing God’s grace. Our own grace is cheap. It is a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

But God’s grace is lovely. It meets us where we are, but it does not allow us to stay where we are. It convicts us and acquits us. And I think that we don’t often allow ourselves to experience its full beauty, due to our own selfishness. We like to think that God’s grace is the free-pass to do whatever we please. But it isn’t. The beauty of grace is only fully realized when coupled with repentance. Otherwise, grace is cheap. Grace only matters because it distinguishes the difference between our worth from our sins. But if we use grace to “justify” sketchy character, then it no longer meets its purpose. Then it is no longer grace at all. It is only an excuse at that point.

No. Grace is beautiful when coupled with repentance. It is at its most beautiful form when we realize how little we deserve it. When God’s grace almost hurts because you know that you, in no way, deserve it; that is when you see the beauty of it. When your brokenness and humility lead to an unclouded judgment. When your repentance is all you can offer. When the pain of your sin racks your body in the form of sobs. That is when grace holds you. That is when it is beautiful.

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” –Psalm 51:17

Grace is lovely. Don’t cheapen it.

~Emily