grace.... pass it on

I witnessed something sad recently. Someone with a bad attitude taking all of their woes out on innocent bystanders.

I'll be honest. I'm having a bad attitude at the moment. Is it just me, or do you ever want to fix people? I get so tired of people being rude, or people acting out their feelings of entitlement. It especially bothers me when these people are old enough to know better. People; hear me: Yelling won't get you anywhere. Rage will not solve your problem. And lastly, sometimes, it just doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. At the end of the day, it is what it is. When screaming starts working for you...you know...winning you friends and influence, let me know. I'll not be holding my breath. And for goodness sakes, if you are going to continue to scream and yell to make your point be known and to get your way in life, please don't come bragging to me about it...because I am not going to be throwing you any parades. If this is how you "think" you are winning influence and getting things done, I'm not impressed...and I don't want any. Thanks anyway.

God has given us His grace. In fact, He has poured it over us to overflowing. Individually, and collectively, we have done some pretty crappy things that are not glorifying to the Kingdom of God...and yet, He offers us His grace, through Jesus. When we accept His grace, and then turn around and treat others like mud and scream like idiots....it is as if we are saying, "Thanks Lord for accepting all of my imperfections, cleansing me and giving me another chance, day after day.... hope you don't mind that I'm going to live my life expecting perfection from everyone else, and not giving an inch in my mentality". Do you know what God says about our enemies? He says we should pray for them and love them. He also says we should turn the other cheek. And He also says that if they ask us for something, we should give it to them. He isn't saying we should be a floormat, or take unnecessary abuse. He is saying....show them the grace I have shown you...and do it in love. He also says we should encourage each other and that it is good to speak truth into the lives of people who maybe do not see the damage and destruction in their own personal behaviors. But if you are breathing, you probably know that there are people out there who are right all the time, and they just don't want to hear anything...not even in love. I honestly don't know what we are supposed to do with those people. Just pray for them I guess. Try to be an example of light and love.

Sometimes I just get fed up with bad attitudes. Lord knows I had a chip on my shoulder for a long time and the cure for that did not come easily. In fact, it was utterly painful. But the beauty that has come out of that negativity is that I now know that my days are woven with events that were permitted by God. He blesses me with precious moments and he allows me to be shaped, molded, affected, and effect others through some of life's more unpleasant happenings. Nothing in my heart or in my mind wants to deny that this is a story written by God himself, and that I am a part of it, and no matter what happens in my day, my week, my year or my life.... that if I remember He is with me and if I can be willig to let Him shine through me, that He is accomplishing something for His kingdom, through me.

I am trying to pass along grace today, without passing judgement. I realize that there is not a simple formula for this, but that it requires intention and it requires tapping into the grace that Jesus has to give to me. I am asking. He is giving. The magic and the mystery truly is that the more I pray for grace in my own life, the more abundantly I have to share it with others.....even screamers with bad attitudes.