I have a new friend whom I met through the Mundane Faithfulness Community. Like many of my friends from that group, she has taught me to see life and hardship through a different lens, choose joy with more intentionality, and fight to see glimpses of grace even on the most difficult of days. One of the things she does that I love is post her “grace sightings” on Facebook; sometimes they are giant gifts from friends or family but often they are as subtle as a kind word or gesture that met her that day.
Last night a different friend shared some sad news with me. Lots of tears were shed and I carried that sadness into today. I fought to choose joy and not allow the hurt to taint my day, but there was that twinge—that ache—that gnawed at me constantly. By naptime, I was emotionally exhausted, so I put the babies down and then laid down myself, hoping to recuperate a bit before dinner. A short while later, I felt a tiny finger rubbing my cheek and then I heard a tiny voice singing, You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… At the end of the serenade, I opened my eyes to the welcome sight of my 3-year old smiling next to me. He said hello and then shared this comfort with me: Mama, no matter how old you get, no matter how big you get, you’ll always be my mama.
He was repeating to me what I always tell him: No matter how old you get, no matter how big you get, you’ll always be my baby.
I couldn’t help but recognize this moment for what it was: a gift of grace. A balm in the midst of my heartache, a reminder of love that never dies, a promise of comfort no matter what, a reflection of God’s faithfulness to his children—to me.
I am a big fan of Ann Voskamp and her beautiful message of gratitude. I love seeing posts on social media of what my friends are thankful for, and it always encourages me to know that so many people are fighting to have grateful hearts. And I hope for this for myself as well. Some days what I need in the heat of the moment of hard is to recognize graces that God is gifting to me—I need to be able to see God’s pursuit of me when I am hurting or feel unnoticed and unknown or when I am not sure I can make it until tomorrow without being swallowed up by whatever darkness is plaguing me. I need to fight to recognize God’s gifts of grace to me. I need—I want—to be a gracemonger.
I want to be on the frontline of the battle for seeing grace in the mundane crooks and crannies of our lives, because when we see that grace, we can live with hope. And when we live with hope, we can encourage others in their pursuit of hope, too.
I want to carry the flag for the Gracemonger Army, blaring the trumpet and shouting from Matthew 11: Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Jesus. Get away with Jesus and you’ll recover your life. He’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with him and work with him—watch how he does it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. He won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with him and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. (from The Message)
Will you join me? Will you be a fellow gracemonger? Will you encourage others by pointing out the gifts of grace that abound all around us? Will you help hurting friends see gifts of grace when they are too broken to notice?
Let’s make it a thing!! Let’s start posting the gifts of grace we see in our everyday lives or when the days are the hardest. Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, blog about them and hashtag them with GRACEMONGER. Let’s take over social media—let’s spread the joy of God’s generous heart.
