Matthew writes: “[Herod] sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under.” Jesus is born, but in Flannery O’Connor’s words, “at a devastating price.” No one knows how many children died; the New Testament alone documents the...
Trust that Jesus knows what he is doing. And that you already are salt and light and love and grace. Don't try and be it. Know that you already are. And then, for the love of God, take that seriously. The world needs it.
Insecurity wants us to keep track of our failures; grace doesn't even write them down.
Let Your mighty outstretched arm, O Lord, be my defense; Your mercy and loving-kindness in Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, our salvation; Your true word my instruction; the grace of Your life-giving Spirit my comfort and consolation, to the end and in the end; through...
The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred proof Grace--bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one...
Grace is the breath that immediately follows a failure, the breath that reminds us life is not ended by one mistake or measured by one moment. Grace is the breath with which we make amends and start again. Grace, like breath, should never be wasted.
In the wilderness of grief, God provides narrative manna — just enough shape and meaning to keep us walking — and sends the Comforter, who knits together the raveled soul and refuses to leave us orphaned. Sometimes the bereaved say they are looking for closure, but in...
To err on the side of grace is no error at all. Grace is a gift, not an award. And once received, it is to be passed along unconditionally, not selectively.
Grace will be sufficient for whatever lies ahead.
In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is...