Beauty, Grace, and Mercy


Yesterday I spent the morning at the car dealership waiting to have a part replaced and my brakes checked. 

While hanging out in the service lobby, I watched a few episodes of Young Sheldon, but then I turned my attention to people watching.  

What struck me most was an older woman who sat reading a magazine.  She was very thin, and her long hair which cascaded down her shoulders was dyed brown.  Her bright pink lipstick was smudged across her lips, and smeared across her cheeks.  Her mascara had somehow left marks under her right eye.  On her feet she wore black suede slippers topped with enormously large fur pom-pons. 

My initial reaction was an inward chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all… but then the text on the back side of the magazine she was holding caught my eye...“Nature’s Most Beautiful Gift,” and I realized THAT is how God sees her.

This woman is someone’s mother, she is someone’s sister, and she is HIS daughter…. 

A beautiful woman of His creation.

It is the same way He sees me…EVEN when I’m catty and judgemental.

EVEN when my thoughts, words, or deeds reflect poorly on my character and I fail to live up to the grace He has afforded me.

EVEN in moments like these - where the shame of my sin reminds me that I am wholly unworthy of the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Forgive me, Lord - and help me to "live better."

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 'Do not judge and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.'" - Luke 6:36-37

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