Healing Grace

I woke up this morning to fresh snow. There is nothing more beautiful than fresh powder. It was everywhere. Nothing could escape it. It covered the trees, the roads, the mountains. You could not hide from it. White as far as my eye could see. It was beautiful! It was graceful. It was full of grace. As hard as God’s grace is to understand, I got it this morning.

God’s grace is pure. It’s everywhere. You can’t escape it. There is no hiding from it. It covers you, so that all you see is white. White. Pure. It’s endless. As soon as you think that you have run out of it…that somehow you’ve used up your limit offered by God, the snow falls again, reminding you of your humanness and nothingness without it.

You know, the amazing thing about snow is that even junk gets covered up. Old beat up barns become a postcard. Old tires in a field look like glazed doughnuts. Yesterday, I passed a car parked beside the road that looked as though it had been condemned to die. I’m not positive how it even got there. It had those obnoxious orange stickers all over from the police, warning of future trouble. I’m pretty sure it had been abandoned, and rightfully so. The owner appeared to have given “last rights,” then left it to die.

Then from the Heavens came the graceful snow. Today, I passed that same clunker. What a difference a day makes. It could have easily been a Ferrari under that blanket of snow. It didn’t look beat up today. It didn’t appear to face condemnation. It looked redeemed. If I hadn’t seen it the day before, I would not have been able to recognize its’ nothingness. Its’ worthlessness. Its’ abandonment.

Here’s the hook…we’re that junker condemned to die. We had all of those stickers on our bodies warning of impending trouble. We appeared like we had no owner. Then grace showed up. Talk about redemption! It’s only by the endless grace of the Lord that we are redeemed. Thank God today for purity. Purity that comes from a gift. A gift that can’t be earned, only accepted.

Today, don’t see yourself as who you “should be”, but rather, see yourself as the Lord Himself sees you…PURE, WHITE, REDEEMED, FORGIVEN, and yes, a FERRARI.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride.