Grace

God's grace is abundant. Indescribable. It is as if we are only allowed glimpses of it because to see the entirety would consume us. We see it through our fellow man in acts of love and sacrifice for others. It touches us to the core when we recognize it, often leaving us speechless and full of emotion. It brings tears. Our most epic and enduring literature and films are just that because they often include the theme. To me, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables is one of the most poignant examples. It beautifully portrays the human condition: pain, struggle, failure, forgiveness, redemption, abundant love. God is somehow a main character without even being mentioned. "Greater love has no one than this: that a man lay down his life for a friend." It reaches across culture and language and creed. That is why God chose to communicate His love for mankind in this way. Heroes throughout our history and in our legends are willing to love and sacrifice in this way.

For whatever reason, it is this part of God's character that I most cherish and champion. It's what touches me the most. I want to love like God. And yet I habitually forget that I am the OBJECT of that love, and what that means. I feel unworthy if I am not being the heroic lover, and don't yet know how to bask in the love God has for me. If I did, I would not be anxious or insecure or depressed, dependent upon achieving success as I have defined it, and mired in my own failures and incompetence to live the way I want. I think I would simply LIVE. Abundant life in the glow of the abundant love of God.