Monday, January 22, 2007

Dear God,

The snow fell covering the brown winter ground. Glistening, like a million tiny diamonds, the evergreens, pines, trees of every variety sported a new kind of beauty. I stood on my patio as darkness fell, watching the miniature flakes fall. I love snow.

Recently I learned about perspective. What you see is not always what you get, so the saying goes. Yet, sometimes what you see is what is real. But you can look at it from all sides, varying ever so slightly in its interpretation. A wide range of answers provides differing perspectives. Sometimes the perspective is a matter of life and death.

If I can see something from only one perspective and it is devastating to me, I may feel as though I can't go on. Especially if I feel guilty, judged. I may try to make something right and it may become "right" for me but not for someone else.

It occurs to me that perspective may be a realization of what is true around me. On the other hand, if my perspective is mistaken or slightly off, I may live my life in its shadow, a constant, nagging voice that leaves me debilitated. Life may be about choices; but there are times when someone else's choice leaves us frozen, paralyzed in place. Our perspective of the situation comes from a frozen mindset, one that remains unchanged.

But what if grace has something to do about it? What if grace is the true revealer of ultimate truth? What if grace helps us to see an even deeper truth, one that heretofore was hidden from our eyes? What then?

Like snow that blankets the ground, grace clings to us, whispering God's truths to us. A new kind of beauty can suddenly emerge, one that we had not seen before. A purity of soul and spirit, we have a new opportunity to see life as God sees it. If we have been guilty, we have to look at the guilt in light of grace for the two are woven together as one fabric. If we have broken another's heart because of our lacking or we simply do not have the ability to change a situation, we move forward in grace. We offer it in the form of grace-filled love. But the truth is that grace meets grace. For grace becomes the one constant between us. We may not see the invisible curtain; but it is there.

I want to be rid of my grievous mistakes and I can do it through grace. Recently I met with a young man who told me he had followed up on a suggestion I had made. He had written down every regret he had, then one by one, threw them in the campfire. He had decided to leave the regrets behind, not take them forward into the new year. He wanted to start again or at least begin at a new place. He did it and feels freer and lighter than he has in a very long time. He looks good.

We can't breathe in grace without giving it. And we do have to take responsibility for ourselves when we err against someone. At the same time we cannot take the responsibility that belongs to someone else. We cannot rid the world of every blemish simply because we will it. How I wish we could. It doesn't work that way. But grace like fresh, white snow can cover us in a new kind of reality, one that can revive, renew, giving hope, love, and even peace. Grace moves us forward, unencumbered. Our witness to this grace leaves grace in the footprints of our sin. We can help give a new reality to those around us who like us are sometimes stuck in our own muck. Grace ultimately gives us new life, a new reality, a new perspective.

Great grace-giving God,
sometimes you are the only one
to whom we can turn.
Our sin can turn us inside out.
Our perception of our evilness
can keep us trapped
in the dark
without a way out.
But you see us from the inside out.
When you see us,
you see grace,
because you see your mirrored self.
Your child is a vision of loveliness
when seen through grace,
the ultimate reality.
For grace has the final word
every time.

Gratefully, Andrea