Give Him Grace

Give Him Grace --

This phrase (and variations of it) has come to be very meaningful to me in recent years.

I don't feel like I had much of a handle on what "grace" meant until I was a young adult in college (mid-1980s). A couple of very dear friends of mine, in large part, started me on my journey of learning much about the grace of God (thank you Billy King and Jim Carter)..... and it is a journey I am still on.

There is another kind of grace that I am also learning about though. And that is the grace we extend to those around us. I was keenly reminded of this a few weeks ago while having dinner with some great friends. The younger son was mildly getting into "trouble" -- "no son, don't do that..no". To which older brother AJ replied to his parents "give him grace". Oh...did I mention my buddy AJ is five (5) years old???? My 5 year old friend had just reminded his parents that little brother might need some grace offered to him.

After being quite taken back at the astute comment of this young friend of mine, I got to thinking more about that statement. I began to think about how much better our relationships with one another would be if we could remember, as AJ encouraged, to "give him grace".

The fact is -- people are going to mess up. Friends will disappoint and hurt us. But God is helping me learn more about it means to extend grace in these situations, to those around me. Forgiveness. Keeping short tabs. Letting people "off the hook". Letting things go.....That's certainly what I want when I screw up. Grace.

God has already given me HIS grace -- and continues to extend that. And I am eternally grateful for that grace. Thank you Lord. I hope we can learn as HIS people to be grace-givers as well. Thank you AJ for that reminder. -- "give him grace".

Be There.

KathyC