Grace

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28

You do not have to work at being good. Jesus tells us that he will not lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on us. Grace is not forced. God does not come to us and say - You have to be good now! No, God comes to us even when we are at our worst and says "I love you and I always have and I always will." We only have to walk and work with God to learn about life. Enjoy life. Be creative in life. What a wonderful thing this grace of God that loves us with no force and no expectation. If you truly know grace you will know how to respond to this kind of love. You will not take advantage of grace. You will find your place in God's world. I love the following poem because I think it expresses the idea of God's love and our response.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
from Dream Work by Mary Oliver published by Atlantic Monthly Press© Mary Oliver

Namaste'