On some mornings when I wake up, I would like to turn over and go back to sleep. On one such morning this week, this little rhyme popped up in my head:
When morning arrives and the sun is in sight,
I could reflect on the distress of the night.
How would rehearsing my miseries and failures
Affect my feelings, my thoughts, my behaviors?
Would this help me gain confidence, grow in faith?
Would it help me avoid my usual mistake?
For me the usual mistake would have been to roll over and go back to sleep, focusing on my stiff and sore muscles. Instead, I promptly got up. During breakfast, I chose not to complain about the “distress of the night” (which did not actually amount to much) but to share my little poem. It made for a happy and relaxed breakfast time.
Being senior citizens, we could both find ways to complain about the adjustments that we need to make in everyday life. Would focusing on our present puny miseries and past failures help us to finish this life well? Of course not! We want to finish well. Don’t you?
To finish well I must not dwell
On how I failed “to make the grade”,
Instead, remember who it is
That forgives and gives me aid.
To finish well, I must change my pace
To myself and others, “Enter: Grace”!
Enter: GRACE
It’s not lost to you, God—
All that data of mine;
My hard drive crashed,
But your memory is just fine.
Every word from my mouth,
Every thought in my head,
Every action I have taken,
With your scanner, you have read.
And you’ve stored everything
On your disc in the sky;
But my sins you’ve deleted,
For that, I gratefully sigh.
If you made hard copies
Of every foolish error
And gave them out to friends of mine
I truly would despair.
God, please look over
The spreadsheets in my mind;
Edit them with truthfulness.
Show me where I’m blind.
And in my daily computing
Teach me to enter: Grace;
So when others sin against me,
I, like you, their sins erase.
The first time that grace and God’s total forgiveness and forgetfulness of my sins when I repent were explained to me, it absolutely overwhelmed me. I cried! It was so incredible to think that He does not keep score but gives us a “do over” every time we ask. I certainly need all that forgiveness. I also need God’s help to work on being nearly as forgiving as He is to me.
Thank you so much for your lovely poem and gentle reminders of His magnificent love for us.
Thank you for your comment, Debbie. I, too, need constant reminders of grace. God generously gives them.
Good morning Jane, Your poem reminded me of when we worked together many years ago and I would be BLESSED by you and your daily walk with the Lord!! Sometimes you would bless me with your songs to the Lord walking through the office. Other times it would be your words of encouragement. Your poems express the feelings that we have. The Lord used YOU in my life to SHOW me GRACE in a real living way! I thank the Lord for making YOU and putting our lives together for a season!! Much love to you Jane, Sherry
Oh my, Sherry! Thank you for your words of encouragement. You are so receptive to GRACE. I deeply appreciate your perseverance, in difficult times, to walk in faith. Thank you for that example. I love you, too, my dear friend.
What a wonderful and witty poem! Everyday I bask in the experience of God’s grace. When I realize I have wronged a friend God has made me quick to apologize. When I overlook a stranger’s need God has made me more conscientious to be more giving the next time. When my mind wanders to negative places He is quick to remind me to think pure thoughts. All of these interventions by God are an easy grace in my life. I am so thoroughly sure of God’s grace and my salvation through Christ I can live peacefully and productively. Thank you Jane, as always, for your wise words.
Judy, I am thrilled to hear about the effect of God’s grace in your life. Thank you so much for sharing the evidences of his grace in
your everyday life. May his grace and peace to you be multiplied.
I love your poem about Grace, Jane! What a great visual! God thank you that you delete my sins from the hard drive! Help me to remember this visual and do the same for others! This is grace! This really blessed me this morning, Jane! Thank you so very much!!
Thank you for your encouraging comment, Marlene!Through your expressions of grace, God has blessed me numerous times!