Transition to Grace

       As if learning about Grace on my own last week and two weekends ago from church, I had to hear it again at my small group this past Sunday night but it was good to hear. I still don't get it and never will but it brought a picture to mind that I have to deal with in my job and it was neat to see. I need to make a poem out of the title sometime but this will just explain the, I guess, background if the poem does ever come out. Then a little girl hit me yesterday with a simple thought of grace and thankfulness that I will tell at the end of this entery.
       Where I work I have children come in every 3 months and of course it is hard for them. It is a transition and a big one at that. Then they leave after 3 months to a foster home or back to their parents depending on the situations. I couldn't help think about how that is us with God and His Grace.  We come into God with being really quite and seeing what it is like and what we can get away with just like little children do at a new place. We really don't understand why or how everything works so we just watch for a little bit. With the children, we they have things firugred out in their new place they open up. They are their normal selves. We can never go by the first week sometimes even the first month because they are so scared and haven't opened up yet. Eventually, they do and they have the energy to do whatever but then they calm down because they know what will work and not work with the staff,
        They also get into a routine where for some of the children it is a first time they have ever had a routine in their life. They seems to calm them down because they know what to expect and they don't have to be on edge or be the bigger person. They can just be children. They calm down for about a month and a half and then they start to get crazy again because they know their time is almost up. They get crazy because they don't want to leave and/or they are scared again because they have no idea what is ahead of them. I don't like to see that because then it makes the staff wonder sometimes will they make in in the foster home or make with their parents. Did we make an impression on them somewhat and somehow?
        I share this in relation to grace because that's how we are with Grace.  We get into a routine where we feel comfortable but then God calls us out and we a scared. I feel like when humans use or relie on Grace or see it that most is when things are changing in our lives and we turn to God for help. We get comfortable in our ways but God is like "nope, you are not going to stay there. I still have a lot more to teach you so let's change some things around." You might have to give Grace to people because they hurt you without knowing or you have been given Grace without knowing it too. Things might be hard to where you have to give Grace because you just need to move on and forget about it.
        I feel like children, espically the kind I work with, learns what Grace really is moving place to place but they don't know that word yet. In different areas and season of our adult lives, don't you think God shows and gives us Grace everyday. I know right now in my life He is every single day because I've messed up in so many ways with so many people I feel like but with God all that is forgotten and I'm sure people don't even think about it a lot like I do.
        I had a little girl say to me yesterday at work, "God gave me these shoes" while I was bending down to tie them. She said that out of nowhere. Thinking about Grace and how that goes together. This little girl is thankful for a small gift of shoes. Shouldn't we be thankful and notice the gift of Grace and stop trying to work for it as humans. I know easier said then done. HE GAVE US HIS GRACE just like He gave those shoes to the little girl. She didn't have to work for them. He cared enough to provide for her and for a lot of these children I work with.
        There is a challenge and a prayer I want you to take away from this entery and here it is:

Challenge: "Am I in a spot where I am transitioning to another part of my life where I need Grace to get through the hardest part?"

Prayer: "God, thank you for beautifully dressing the lilies of the valley and keeping Your Eyes on the Sparrow. Thank you for giving us the simple things like shoes on our feet. Thank you for your Grace even though we can't understand it to the fullest. Help me understand that I don't need to do anything to earn it. You just give it to me because you Love me." -In Jesus' Grace, Amen