meditatio at the water's edge

first things first...birthdays...Randy's was June 5...Birthdays are a time when we get to tell people that we are glad that they exist. We say thank you to God for creating you, not because you benefit us in any way--not because of economics--but simply because you are you, and because God decided that it would be good to make you. Now that we know your birthday, Randy, we can celebrate better next year.


Now, about gifts...gifts are the reversal of pride. The breathtaking thing about grace is that we can't take it--we can only receive it. Our alternate stories begin when we, like Adam and Eve, pride-fully take for ourselves that which has been wisely forbidden. We put ourselves in the place of God and so we live in an alternate story--ouside the garden. The way back in, however, is not found in taking or making a way for ourselves, but in receiving. This receiving undoes all our pride as we cannot claim any credit for taking it or making it.

It takes humility to receive a gift, and too many of us do not know how to receive gifts. We turn it into an economy...when we are given a gift, we usually feel obligated to repay. So we become anxious about evening the score. This is not receiving, but taking...a fair exchange. But there is no fair exchange in grace. We are given a gift that may only be recieved..and this receiving only happens when pride has been undone--no more taking, no more making things even, no more "fair exchanges".

You will know how to receive when you no longer feel the compulsion to even the score. You can simply and humbly live in gratitude.