The Nature of Grace

There are so many things that make me happy...

Our boys...



My hubby...The spring flowers blossoming in my yard (go away, freeze, go away!)...

But there is another thing that makes me happy...a beautiful book.

Although I thought for a long time that I didn't want a Kindle, I love the one my guys gave me for Mother's Day last year. Because I'm notoriously cheap, I especially adore the free books.

Recently, I downloaded the book version of one of my top two favorite musicals, Les Miserables. (Wicked is the other.) Some of you may have already read it, so you know that it's a labor of love to get through that bohemoth volume. I almost put it down for good in frustration. However, I'm almost half way through now, and I'm so thankful that I didn't give up.

Les Miserables is the most beautiful story of grace, and I am still in the process of grasping God's love and grace. I've said before that I struggle with grace, and I'm so grateful to have a fresh picture in the form of a beautiful story.

This morning I reached the place where Victor Hugo expresses Jean Valjean's struggle that is my own. When he was in a wretched place, he compared himself to the righteous bishop who extended the first taste of grace to him and saw himself as a wretch in need. When Jean lived righteously, he began to compare himself to other men, and pride entered in as the enemy.

I feel like I constantly swing between those two perceptions of myself--wretch or super-saint.

They both are twisted versions of the truth about me. I really am a worm in need of grace. I truly am a saint because of the blood of Jesus.

Grasping grace is finding a place of rest in between those two truths. It's rest from wrestling my flesh from one perverted version to the other. Grace is God's gift, and I'm slowly learning to unwrap it. I'm thankful for a book like Les Miserables that tears one more piece of wrapping off the treasure inside.

This song is another thing that makes me happy (and sad and sappy). Enjoy the beauty!