Bloomsinthegarden: Grace is the Oar...

Red Oak in Kentucky

In the boat of life, grace is the oar that moves us forward.

Especially on days where we feel we cannot even pick up an oar to help ourselves, grace finds us and moves us further down the waterway. It is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving.

I saw a church sign that read "The law reminds, grace re-organizes" which is not true. Grace is something that covers or eliminates, works in place of or instead of. It does not remind us of our shortcomings; when we do that of our own volition, grace reminds us that we do not have to to that!

Grace gives us the privilege of coming in to that throne room that we talked about from Hebrews 4:16 and coming with a sense of urgency and need and knowing that this *is* where we need to be. After all, that is when many people remember to invite God into the situation.

Grace reminds us that at any time, not just in a time we feel in crisis, we can come with quiet reassurance each and every day; which is especially good for building the habit pattern in our life for when there is a sense of great need and urgency for our petitions being fulfilled in "To Go" fashion!

I have a friend who set a great reminder in my mind to start the day off in thoughts of thanks by saying "Thank" when her first foot hit the floor when getting out of bed and "You" with the other foot. Try it out, see if it doesn't put a smile on your face! Then, you can just keep moving down the path.

I found myself this week getting a little bit under the waters like when you are walking in the ocean or in a lake and where you thought there was solid ground at your next step, there was not, and your nose goes under the water unexpectedly? Gasp and snort! You know how it feels when water goes up in your sinuses and you choke?

I needed to find my way back to grace to get myself on level ground again so I opted out of just being alone.

I went off to cousin's yarn shop that is full of sunshine and light. Some knitters came in and sat down in the same area that I was in and before long, I was just laughing and at ease again. What happened? I got outside of myself, put myself in a position to not dwell on what was bothering me and let Grace run her course. Before long, I was refreshed and moving forward.

Being with people sometimes brings the grace more quickly; when we feel the urgency of "Things are not working here, why isn't this working out yet?" can be our flag that we are in distress. We can help ourselves to a cup of scripture from our mental file accordion or from the Bible itself, or, from just something peaceful.

Grace is the help in between the time you pray for something and when the answer comes. Sometimes, the bread has to bake; you know it may take some time for your answers to come. Obviously, if you did not get an answer right away this is the case. Sometimes, it is not necessarily a prayer or petition for something specific that you need or something for someone else needs, you just need an answer.

Grace is what keeps you on the path and helps you not give up. We are reminded that there is plenty available and that God had a lot to give; specifically in the church epistles (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Thessalonians), each starts out telling us "Grace and Peace to you" or "Grace and Mercy"; those salt and pepper condiments God sets before us so we can liberally apply them as desired.

Grace is what keeps the journey sweet. We may just find ourselves 'out of sorts' for no particular reason and grace is the substance that is cheer to our hearts.

When you have grace, you are yourself, the real you. It is available, we just have to go get it.

The thing about grace is, that it often just finds you, right when you need it and you didn't have to ask for it at all!

Now there is a thing you can be grateful for, yes?