Lent Day 40: Thankful for grace

Another Lent season is drawing to a close. I didn't get to my computer yesterday, making it 3 or 4 days that I missed in my writing discipline. Plus I fell flat on my face into a habit yesterday that sidelines me spiritually. Time again for regrets and repentance.

I am grateful for Don Ross' blog on how to recognize genuine repentance. I don't need it for others. Such guidance works best when I'm facing myself in the mirror.

Imagine never having to say your sorry, not because you're a jerk or actually unrepentant. Imagine living life to the full - laughing, crying, working, playing - without ever hurting yourself or others. Jesus lived that kind of a life.

Today, in the reflective pause between Good Friday and Easter, I'm thinking about the silence of God when I deserve punishment. Christ has died for me. God considers the death I deserve paid in full.

Easter is coming! My heart begins to sing with the relief and release of forgiveness. He has done it!

You and I can forgive all that has been done against us because of Easter, too.

Read more:

*The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10
*For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV

*Christ says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." John 14:27

*This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Lord, as St. Francis prayed, make us instruments of your peace. Guide us to console more than seeking consolation, to pardon more than asking for pardon and to know that in death we are born to eternal life. In Jesus' name. Amen.