Liquid Grace

Liquid Grace

To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Carol has a keen eye for when someone is not okay. And that morning at the coffee shop, Carol quickly saw that our friend was struggling. As Carol leaned across the table and whispered, “Let’s pray,” the tears our friend had been holding back started to silently fall.

Listening to Carol pray, in my mind’s eye I saw Jesus pouring out liquid grace over my friend’s head with it streaming like rivulets down her hair and over her person until she was soaked in it. So that was what I prayed for—for liquid grace to cover all the tender spots that had been rubbed raw, to provide a barrier of God’s love over the most painful places.

We all need grace. I’ve found myself praying for grace on a daily basis these last six months; grace over my friends when their internal voices are being cruel; grace over parent-child relationships in the midst of friction-filled seasons; grace over marriages as wives and husbands are so busy raising children that they are more roommates than spouses; grace over myself when I’ve fallen short.

Christ has set aside grace for each of us, but sometimes we need a friend to recognize our need for it, who will gently remind us that grace is always undeserved when we claim to be unworthy, who can see our situation from the slightly broader perspective of being outside looking in, who speaks God’s truth over us when we are starting to believe lies. We need friends who are like Carol, discerning and wise, who are willing to stop in the middle of a conversation to turn to Jesus in prayer, tipping that proverbial bucket over our head, so that liquid grace might cover us from head to toe.

And when we walk in God’s grace, we find the capacity for extending kindness, compassion, and forgiveness to those around us. It’s in that extension of forgiveness, compassion, and an undeserved kind response that we find life. Liquid grace brings life—to ourselves and to those around us.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Pray God’s liquid grace over your friends and over yourself.