Note to Self
New Year’s 2023: Put this shirt on last night so I could start the year with its necessary reminder. Slept in. Ate my favorite chocolate (I know God is real because of this chocolate). Brushed my teeth(?). Watched a dumb Steve Martin movie and laughed. Stretched and stretched and stretched. Ate celery for lunch and it was good too, I guess (progress, not perfection). Took down Christmas decorations with my high school sweetheart. Listened to “Note to Self” by Ben Rector and copy-pasted its lyrics to my heart. Made breakfast for dinner. Gave the kids a bath with extra bubbles. Danced to Baby Shark. Teared up to Dolly Parton. Watched Jasper set off fireworks and crack dad jokes for all the neighbors watching at their front doors. Loaded the dishwasher unbegrudgingly thanks to (Jesus and) Ben Rector. Returned to bed, achy yet peaceful, and thought about how it’s only the grace of God that gives me this small, beautiful life. Then remembered that doozy of a quote by Frederick Buechner.
“Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?
A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do.
The grace of God means something like: “Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.
Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”
Cheers to the Giver of every good gift, including this new year.
