the grace assignment

I have been meeting with a few girls every Sunday night for the past few weeks for a Bible study. This past week, one of our readings was on God's grace. We discussed how many things in our lives really are grace, everything in fact. We don't deserve anything, most of all our many blessings, because we are sinful people. And yet, whether we deserve it or not, God gives us blessings. Whether it be a tangible material thing or a moment with with a friend or stranger, or a myriad of other things. After discussing grace, we decided on an assignment for the week. At the end of the day, when we are lying in bed, we will look back on our days and discover as many of the gifts of grace that God gave us that we can find. The "grace assignment" made me begin really looking for grace, and I sure have found it.

Today, when I was meeting a friend for breakfast, I got frustrated that there was not a parking spot in the near vicinity of the restaurant. I eventually found a spot down the street and around the corner, near some residential houses. As I got out of my car, I looked up and saw someone walking past my door. I realized I recognized this person, it was a good friend that I had worked with at camp 2 summers ago, but hadn't seen since. Not only was it strange to see her at 7:15 in the morning on a Wednesday, but it was strange to see her, in a place I often go, after 2 years. As I walked away, feeling guilty for getting upset about such a silly thing as having to park down the street from the restaurant, I realized that I had just been given a gift. A light shooting through a dark morning. This was only a tiny start to my day and as the day went on I found many many gifts; moments of joy where I didn't expect to find joy. Because of the assignment that we gave at our bible study a few nights ago, I realized these were moments filled with God's grace. They were not just blessings, it was grace because I never deserved them in the first place.

It is really amazing what can happen when you begin to look for God's grace in the every day happenings of life. I can promise you that the more that you look, the more you will find, and the harder it will become to not want to shout, "Thank you Father!" multiple times in your day. I guess you could call our "grace assignment" a spiritual discipline, but I think I'm understanding why spiritual disciplines work, they open our eyes to God's hand all around us, and get us in the habit to see it constantly.

I hope I can make every week like this week, and keep practicing the grace assignment.