Giving Grace

I am not the most gracious person, in fact I can hold a grudge like you wouldn’t believe. Like, I’m still upset about something that happened in 3rd grade and I’m almost forty five.

It’s a small part of me that I don’t particularly like, but it’s always been there, resting in my heart. And even though I’ve tried my hardest to correct it, still it remains. I realize how pathetic it sounds, but the truth is I have a hard time of forgiving those who have slighted me; especially if they don’t feel the need to acknowledge their mistake and apologize. That makes me want to burn their house down.

While I try to be the kind of person who addresses things, there’s something about being done wrong that sets my temper ablaze. Maybe it’s because I feel disrespected or taken advantage of; honestly, I’m not sure. Whatever the case, I need to be more willing to extend grace and forgiveness toward those who do me harm in these grandiose moments of betrayal.

After all, it’s what a good Christian would do. I think on this and chastise myself for being so childish about things that probably mean very little in correlation to the big picture that is my life. But then I consider the even smaller slights that happen every day; the ones that incite my anger for only a moment: the idiot who cuts me off in traffic and then feels the need to offer me a one finger salute for whatever reason; or the coworker who decides that I should be helping them do their work on top of my own. These types of things agitate me and cause my mood to sour. They’re obviously trivial, and yet I allow them to affect me in a deepened way. It’s because I am not willing to offer the same reoccurring grace God shows toward me every single day.

It’s one thing to be willing to give forgiveness and grace when we are wounded mightily, but it takes an abundance of grace to provide it in response to the everyday things that set us off. It isn’t easy by any means, yet if we allow ourselves to recognize and appreciate the forgiveness that is afforded to us on a continual basis, maybe we can then begin to show that same kind of grace to those who do us even the smallest act of disservice.

We readily accept God’s grace into our lives to combat and rectify our everyday wrongdoing; it’s time we — and especially I — extend that same amazing grace to those around us.

Blessings