Ahh...2010....welcome, I've been (trying not to be) expecting you.

Every so often (usually around December 29th) I begin to long for a new year. Fortunately (?), one is always provided a few days later. I always tell myself not to have expectations for the new year, but really whenever you get something NEW you always have expectations. Fair or not, they exist. You expect your new clothes to be clean, that new book to be a great read, the new movie to awesome, that ever-so-satisfying new car smell.

I really want to try not to put any expectations on 2010. I'd rather try to view it as an unexpected gift. The kind where you really have no clue what could be inside, but it really doesn't matter because you're so happy to have received it at all.

Of course there are certain events I know this year will hold...a 4th birthday, a 6th birthday, a 33rd birthday (ick, 33). And there are events to anticipate...the completion of Kindergarten, the first day of Pre-K and 1st grade, a wedding for a "little boy", a vacation to a "happiest place". I await each of these exciting (well, not the 33rd birthday) things - but can I have no expectations for them? I don't think I can.

For me, 2009 was the "Year of Whatever Works". You know: "Is this best?" "Who knows, but it seems to be working." My resolution at the beginning of 2009 was: "Grace in all things". I think I managed ok, but I am still striving to be a more gracious person. Perhaps if I keep the lessons of 2009 in mind, I can make it through 2010 without having whatever expectations I do have dashed.

The Space Between...his Word and my life

...is quietly small and amazingly comforting.

This posting is a follow up to my last posting on grace.

Well over a year ago, on my Facebook account, a friend sent me a "flair" with a simple message: Gal 5: 22-23. I used to "rearrange" my flair all the time, but I haven't lately. This morning when I came across that particular one, I had to think..."what IS this verse?" When I looked it up, I was pleasantly surprised.

Gal 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I instantly was reminded of my post on grace. This is it. This is what I'm talking about.
How simply wonderful that I've had that simple affirming reminder "at my fingertips" for so long and that I found it again now, when grace is becoming such an important attribute to me.
I'm grateful.

The Space Between...should be filled with grace.

below are some thoughts on GRACE.  i didn't write these, a friend shared them with me...

life is a classroom. we are both student and teacher. each day is a test. and each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. 

grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. it's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce. being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can't help. being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

it is not "if" we will lose the things we love, it is "when." with some, the loss comes in a major catastrophic event. for most, love is surrendered one piece at a time. a first childhood, a promising romance, the passing of a loved one and finally a child who leaves home. but as we lose, we can keep a deep knowing that in the presence of grace, love for the sake of love is eternal.

how you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain. and so it is with life, which for many of us has become one big gigantic test followed by one big gigantic lesson. in the end, it all comes down to one word. grace. it's how you accept winning and losing, good luck and bad luck, the darkness and the light.