amazing grace.

how very cliche of me, i realize that. but there is nothing cliche about grace.

we who speak "christianese" use the word very frequently. we can even define it (and by define, i mean recite a sunday school or catechism learned explanation of it). we experience grace all of the time, every day, over and over again. yet, despite how often we talk about grace, it is often something that we struggle to truly grasp and recognize. worse yet, we (and by we, i mean i) fail to realize and admit how much we need grace.

most of the time, i do not realize how much grace i need and how often i need it. i walk around thinking i am doing a pretty good job at life, feeling as though i am a pretty good person. false. i am constantly sinning and struggling and the very thought that i feel so comfortable with myself shows that i am sinning. pride. pride needs grace.

last night, jay and i watched our netflix rental. to be completely honest, neither of us were completely in the mood for it. in fact, it had been mailed to us several days before and we had put it off until last night (in our defense, we are pretty busy these days and don't always have time to sit down for a 2-hour movie). but normally we are pretty quick to jump on whatever movie shows up. we both admitted, though, that we probably wouldn't ever quite get in the mood for it, especially not at the same time. 'the passion of the Christ' isn't exactly a sit back and relax kind of movie. but we watched it last night anyway, and it was just what i needed.

the thing is, i need to watch it every day. i'd like to be able to say that the impact of watching it last night lasted into today. but that would be a lie. i am very selfish today...and every day. but especially lately. i am in dire need of grace today.

thankfully, Jesus died once and for all for my sins. based on the visuals i saw last night, grace is very amazing. how He loves.

those around me have shown me an incredible amount of grace lately too. i am thankful for that. i am thankful that God's grace overflows into them so that they can pour it out on me. i pray that the love and grace of Christ so overflows the cup in my life that i can grow in my abilities to reflect it to those around me.