Counting it all joy
Originally written January 7, 2013

This year is going to be the year I let grace wash over my life and soak every part of it. I’ve been grumpy, low on energy, short on patience, and quick to anger. And this didn’t happen overnight. Sure, lack of sleep and other physical conditions could be contributing to the aforementioned maladies, but life has a way of wearing us down. In an effort to manage said life and its challenges, it’s easy to lean on the tangibles: effort, skill, training, personality, money, relationships, and discipline–not to mention the go-to stress-relievers of food, drink (coffee is my drink of choice) and fun.

While most of those go-tos have value, none of them generate real peace, joy, contentment, or life purpose. None of them in themselves produce lasting, reliable success. In fact, the harder I pedal, the tired-er I gets, and still I gets no closer to my desired destination. And maybe that’s the key. If a satisfying life really could be found in achievements, then effort and other tangibles would be the ticket! But we crave more than external success, and require more than external validation.

My first line of offense this year is to exercise the force of gratitude. It’s not just a matter of keeping a positive attitude. It’s acknowledging God’s grace, His hand, the little things and the big things that make our life a story of His love.

Thank you Lord! Thank you for all of it.
CMarie

Ephesians 2:4-8
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.