Monday, October 14, 2013

Unfolding before my eyes - The joy of life open-handed

So I have this mental image of a blank piece of parchment and as drops fall on it like rain, colors come alive more vibrant and beautiful than my favorite Monet.  All this coming to light one drop at a time.  And I am watching in sheer delight.  Surprise!  Purples and greens and blues and blacks.  Surprise!  Landscapes of sky and mountains.  Surprise!  Life unfolding before my eyes.

And without a doubt, expectations kill relationships, and I'm tired of acting like this life is my puzzle to put together.  Because all is grace and I am entitled to nothing and the greatest, truest, most joy-FILLED way to live is to open the hands and witness grace falling like rain revealing greater beauty than I can imagine.  

And I know who I am: Beloved and worthy and valued and made perfect in Christ.

But I am not and never will be deserving.

And yet He gives and gives and chooses me and gives.  I read it from her, soaked it in deep, and scrawled it across my Facebook page: Live simply - with great grace, no expectations, and lavish love.


And he and I talk about it between holes on the mini-golf course.  When you live with open hands, you lose your grip on the expectations, and all things become what they already are - pure grace and gift.  It is all joyful surprise.  And I can say, "Thank You for the gift of this moment and let me also be the gift.  Yes!  Be the gift through me!"  And the clenched fists have no place here, in this place of abundant grace and no expectations, of Life open-handed.  We can breathe here.  We can live here.  Where grace falls like rain, and we can watch the Beauty of Life unfold.


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