I want to spend my next few blog posts focusing on grace – as a practice for myself, and for the sake of others who, like me, need constant reminders of how relentless, how limitless, and how totally sufficient God’s grace is.
I’ll start by sharing these song lyrics that have been running through my head all day. The song is by Bob Bennett, a singer-songwriter my parents really enjoyed when I was growing up. His songs have stuck with me, and I still think he’s an amazing lyricist.
Hand of Kindness*
I’ve no need to be reminded
Of all my failures and my sins
For I can write my own indictment
Of who I am and who I’ve been
I know that grace by definition
Is something I can never earn
But for all the things that I may have missed
There’s a lesson I believe that I have learned
There’s a hand of kindness
Holding me, holding me
There’s a hand of kindness
Holding me, holding onto me
Forgiveness comes in just a moment
But sometimes the consequences last
And it’s hard to walk inside that mercy
When the present is so tied up to the past
In this crucible of cause and effect
I walk the wire without a net
And I wonder if I’ll ever fall too far
But that day has not happened yet
And in the raven dark
There shines a distant light
It seems to point at me
It burns away the night
Familiar figure on horizon
Moving closer now I see
His heart is shining like the sun
And He is reaching out for me
With a hand of kindness
He’s holding me, holding me
There’s a hand of kindness
Holding me, holding onto me
Holding on … a hand of kindness
*from the album Small Graces
