The sister of my soul shared a beautiful sentiment with me, so I give her credit here. She imagined how different it would be seeing other people through God’s eyes, not through the filter of our own experiences.
That made me think about my family and how our history and daily interactions result in blinders and filters on my eyes. There are always minor irritations, flat-out anger and miscommunication when you live with someone – or even when you don’t.
Every night my husband turns off the NUMLOCK on my keyboard and the next morning I input transactions into Quicken that have no numbers. Every night he checks his email and finds the NUMLOCK key turned on. We both mutter under our breath about the daily irritation. God must think we are terribly petty creatures who completely miss the magnificence of the humans who share our most intimate spaces.
Every night my husband turns off the NUMLOCK on my keyboard and the next morning I input transactions into Quicken that have no numbers. Every night he checks his email and finds the NUMLOCK key turned on. We both mutter under our breath about the daily irritation. God must think we are terribly petty creatures who completely miss the magnificence of the humans who share our most intimate spaces.
I envision how God sees us. Our Creator surely looks upon us with love, whole-hearted acceptance and grace for our shortcomings. That is how I perceive my Creator – full of grace. Do I have simple, no-strings-attached grace for my family? Or for people I don’t even like? Or for telemarketers and foreign technical support? Don’t even get me started on that rude woman in the subway. Do I even have enough grace in my entire being to lovingly deal with a NUMLOCK standoff? Some days I wonder.
The same wise friend also talks about “fierce grace.” Ferocity is “unrestrained zeal or vehemence; furiously active or determined.” Imagine being determined to see all the people you meet with eyes of grace. I aspire to live that fierce grace, but am not totally successful. Well, marginally successful if I am honest about it. But I am more aware that the people in front of me are beneficiaries of God’s grace and therefore my own should follow. I need to walk the walk with a little more “unrestrained zeal.”
Perhaps we must consciously encounter each individual aware that our interaction may bless us both in some way. How differently would we answer the telephone if first we acknowledge that one of God’s finest creations is on the other end, and ask ourselves how this exchange can result in a blessing? How often do we answer the telephone with irritation at the interruption?
We may find that life looks very different when we follow a path of fierce and conscious grace. I can only imagine.
PS – I decided to turn NUMLOCK off.
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