God's Grace

Each new experience of God’s grace seems to add to my gratitude to him for my life and the wonders I continue to experience all around me. Betsy and I are spending the summer in our cabin on Walker Mountain in the Smokies of Western North Carolina. Driving up on the one-lane road requires fording a stream which has a bumpy bottom and is about a half a foot high in dry weather, six inches higher when the rains pour. The water bubbles down the mountain from high up among trees and, when it crosses the road, it wets our feet or our tires—does its work, let’s us know it’s there. Then it rushes over rocks on its way down the mountain to disappear among even more trees.

Isn’t that the way God’s grace comes to us? It flows into our lives, active, purposeful. It gets our attention by making sure we feel it, does its work, then bubbles on in a never-ending stream. It can always be counted upon; it’s always there. When the weather gets rough, there’s more of it to carry us through. And even if we choose to ignore it, we can’t get where we’re going without coming in contact with it. God seems to take every opportunity to remind me of his grace; I only have to stay aware!