It started Thursday night. Andy Stanley came to speak at a night of worship at our church. As usual, my husband did an amazing job of leading us into the presence of God. So rich!
During the talk, Andy said that as churches, we need to err on the side of grace. He said a lot of other things, too, but this comment stuck out. I really took it and ran with it. Simply put, grace involves giving freely to someone… They might or might not deserve it.
You don’t have to believe in God to follow this concept. You don’t really have to believe in anything at all. It might make it easier, but really – think about it.
If we were always looking to give the other guy a break… wouldn’t our relationships run a whole lot more smoothly? If instead of taking, we were always giving, regardless of the outcome… wouldn’t there be a whole lot less selfishness and bitterness in the world? Good grief, think about the possibilities! World peace, y’all!
On a much smaller level, I made some personal goals:
When in doubt, cut ’em slack.
When annoyed, dig deeper for patience.
When stretched thinly, pretend they’re my grandmother (this goes for my needy patients at work).
Err on the side of grace.
This is my weekend challenge. It started yesterday, and I’m gonna be really intentional about it. I’m especially steering this little gem of wisdom towards my marriage. I’ve been a Negative Nancy lately, and my husband is probably over it. I know I sure am.
Feel free to join me, and keep me posted.
Christians! Jews! Atheists! Agnostics! Come one, come all!
Get outside yourselves today and err on the side of grace.
With that, I’m off to enjoy this 60-degree Carolina autumn weather.
8 Comments
Thank you for posting about this. I’ve needed the reminder to err to the side of grace. Lately I’ve been so impatient with my kids, so I’ve needed to show them more grace.
Wonderful post! I love that phrase as well! And the idea of making it an intentional weekend challenge…it’s so overwhelming to make big changes, but it really seems do-able to do it for a weekend and get the ball rolling…Love it!
Exactly what I needed to hear today. Beautiful post. Love to you and your beautiful family!
Love this and I will write it down and make it a mantra for the coming weeks…and hopefully, always! Love your boots. Where did ya get ’em?
I love this post – thank you! Reminds me of a quote I found recently (Plato):
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
I try and remember whenever I’m being hard on someone…I don’t know their story and they don’t know mine. Let’s give each other a break!
(And I LOVE your boots — Frye??)
Thanks, y’all! The boots are actually from Target (I think). I bought ’em on clearance when I was pregnant and this is the first time I’ve worn them! They’re a dark green color, with canvas uppers.
I’m going to remember this post. I have been working on being more patient and understanding. I’ve learned a lot since I became a mom. I’ve learned to stop judging others, stop gossiping, stop losing my temper. But sometimes it’s just too hard and I lose track, and then I hurt people and I feel miserable. Thanks for speaking about such a beautiful idea.
well a big thank you very much for this post!