Thursday, July 25, 2013

Just a bag of cosmetics!!


That’s what it was, a plastic make-up bag filled with things like nail polish, lipstick, fragrance, nail files even, but what made it so wonderful is that my husband thought it up all on his own.  He took the time to pick out the colors, the fragrances, each item so foreign to anything he would normally shop for and from an area of the store he would never visit.  It was one of those Christmas gifts from my husband I have never forgotten…just because it was all his idea.
Then this morning I found this line in the Message, James 4: 6, And what He gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find.  The NIV puts it this way: But He gives us more grace…James 4:6a NIV

The idea is the same; God graces us because He loves us, and the way He loves us is better than anything we could imagine.  And like that wonderful Christmas gift so many years, God’s grace gifts are absolutely personalized…He thought about you and me and designed exactly what He knew would be the best gifts for us.
This morning one of my grace gifts was this passage.  Honestly, I have been struggling with contentment, with the desire to do something meaningful.  Then God graced me in two ways: this passage and a call from my older daughter reminding me that words have influence – even when they are lined into cyberspace. 

I sit here happy.  Yup, happy!  Content!  You should see this silly grin!  God reached down through all the pages I consume every day and messaged me: what He gives us far better than anything I could find. And through encouraging words from my grown-up child and encouraging words spoken through His words.
I have to thank Eugene Peterson for his work making the Word of God even more accessible.  A couple of years ago I heard Eugene Peterson speak and address the young pastors-to-be in the audience: Get your languages he said.  Peterson translated from the original languages  when he worked on the Message, putting God’s thoughts into contemporary language…so I thank God for allowing me to go to the Festival of Faith and Writing where I heard Peterson and where my fear of the Message was defused, just one more grace gift this morning.

 

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