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Have you ever thought about what “embracing grace” looks like in daily life? I think it can mean a lot of things depending on the day of the month, or the kind of week we are having, or how much chocolate we have stashed away in our secret snack cubby. Admit it you have one. Embracing grace can reach far and wide, digging deep into the sins of our past or hidden baggage from childhood, to simple things like our constant battle with freshly washed jeans. #firstworldproblems #preachit
Let’s talk about the love/hate relationship we have with jeans. #thestruggleisreal
I hold off until the last possible minute before washing my favorite pair. I know, TMI, right? By the time they are ready to be washed, they are finally perfect. They are lived in. They fit me just right, move with my body and we are fast and furious friends.
And then… cue dramatic music here …it’s time to part ways for a few days. Off to the wash they go. Once our beloved jeans take a roll through the washer and dryer, the waistband is no longer comfy, they suck to our thighs like superglue, hug our butts like a grundie monster. I don’t know about you, but at this point, my jeans and I usually have a love-hate relationship for a few days while we work it out. Eventually, we see eye to eye, until the whole cycle starts over again. #firstworldproblems
Our relationship with grace is a lot like a pair of trusted jeans.
When those freshly washed jeans come back all tight and ready to drive us nuts for days, we have a choice to make.
We can make the irrational choice
And bang ourselves up, call ourselves names like Fatty McFartyPants, swear we’ll go on a diet tomorrow or stop eating that dark chocolate (oh the horror) from now on.
We can make the passive aggressive choice
And pull out our fat pants for a day or two and avoid the drama altogether, while still banging ourselves up on the inside.
Or, we can make the right choice
And a more fashionable one at that! We can choose reality. We can pull up those jeans like a big girl, squat with as much grace as we can muster and work it out.
We can choose to be SANE
And realize that clothes get tighter in the dryer, especially jeans. We can chill out for a day or two while they mold back to our body.
We can choose to speak truth into our life
We didn’t gain 10 pounds overnight while they were in the wash cycle. So why do we bang ourselves up when our clothes fit tighter for totally logical reasons?
LIKE THEY WENT THROUGH THE DRYER….HELLO! It’s totally crazy, right?
The point is. We have choices. And often we have to navigate those choices on a day by day and moment by moment basis. Just like embracing grace.
By the way, I hope you’ve figured out by now that these jeans I’m talking about are a metaphor for so many other things we fall into a roller coaster cycle of craziness with. Relationships. Eating habits. Exercise. Pride. Selfishness. Bitterness. There are just too many to list here.
The Grace Challenge
- What does embracing grace look like in YOUR everyday life?
- How can you offer more grace to yourself today?
- How can you extend more grace to your family?
- How can you extend more grace to the people God places in your life each day? (coworkers, neighbors, the lady at the grocery store, your mailman, etc.)
