CREATING SPACE FOR GRACE

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you – Hosea 10: 12

The closing days of the Year are good times to ruminate and reflect on life – the ups and downs; the successes and failures; the blessings and the lessons; the peaks and the pits; the zeniths and the zeros! It is also a proper time to commit the future to the One Who holds all of our tomorrows!

Life is colourful in all its shades, shadows, hurts, hues, tones and tints! Life can be good; but life can also be hard. Life is full of marvellous moments and not-so-amazing ones. Life is dotted with lifts and lows; it is often fitted with both booms and bumps! Whatever the case, I’ve learnt to thank God for both the blessings and the lessons! The Ups of life are for blessings; the downs of life are for lessons. Up or down, I am never a loser!

God’s Word reveals the blessedness that can evolve out of the broken pieces of life’s kaleidoscope: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord…” Hosea 10:12 (NIV). God desires that you sow righteousness into your life – right choices that honour and bring glory to Him. You always have a choice in every situation. Come what may, you can choose to honour Jesus and glorify your Father-God!

Reap in mercy. Reap the fruit of unfailing love. There will be fruit (positive reward) for every choice you make that honours and glorifies God – the fruit of experiencing God’s unfailing love. Those that sow in tears shall reap in JOY (Psa. 126:5). Resist the temptations to dishonour God in words or deeds or to be distracted away from the path of righteousness.

Break up your unplowed ground… As they till the ground of your heart, life’s broken circumstances ultimately turn out for your blessing. Breaking up the fallow, unplowed soil of your heart will make it ready for new experiences, new life, new growth and new maturity.

Standing on the threshold of a New Year, it is time for you to seek the Lord like never before. Part of seeking Him is allowing SPACE for GRACE in your life. The needs and voids in your life can become the space for His grace. You have a choice, when the circumstances and vicissitudes of life bombard, to either react in negativity or to see it as an opportunity – the proper place for grace to grow deeper and wider in your life. It is in such situations you become a recipient of the lavish dose of divine grace and mercy…as the SHOWERS begin to fall! Will you create space for grace?