Grace

For the past several years, I've been blessed to be a part of an online community of Christian women who seek the Lord and community with each other. I was first intrigued by the idea of an "annual theme" by some of them, who seek God's leading and guidance each year through a singular idea. More often than not, the theme is not chosen by the woman herself, but by God. The methods through which He chooses to reveal said theme are as varied as the women themselves, as one might imagine the Creator of the Universe to be creative Himself. It's exciting, not only at the precipice of a new year to see what each woman's theme is, but fascinating to see how God works through that theme in each friend's life.

I used to envy these women their themes. How wonderful that God gave them something to guide their years. So one year I asked the Lord to give me a theme, too. I thought it would be easy and maybe even fun. Well, God works as He wants to, and the theme He gave me for 2009 was "Brave." Last year, 2010, my year's theme was "Focus." Neither of those were easy, and only maybe a little bit fun sometimes (just goes to show you that envy gets you nowhere!).

New Year's Day 2011 came and went, and I began to think that God was letting me off the hook this year. However, the word that keeps coming to mind each and every time I read my friends' themes and reflect upon my past two is: Grace.

I am not entirely sure what this means. Brave, I knew. I knew God was asking me to step out of my comfort zone, sticking up for myself, my husband, and my children, and trying new things. Focus, I knew. I failed at focusing more often than I succeeded, but I did learn in the process what my writing focus needs to be, and that I need to focus on God and His Word and my family, before I focus on too many other distracting things.

Grace? Really? Let's just wait and see.