Lent Day 9 – Common Grace

The space in-between helps leads us to our senses. It has a way slowing us down to listen closely, and  eventually, keep going. The space in-between helps us connect with the deeper parts of ourselves and our souls. The space in-between, if we let it, is a place of amazing grace. When I’ve no more ambitions to pursue, deadlines to fret or people to impress the world slows down to its own pace, the pace of life. It is here that the miracles begin.

Let’s start with the heart. There is nothing I’ve done to earn, deserve or achieve my heart. It is simply there. Yet, my heart is what gives me life. It sends life-giving blood (water) throughout every part of my body carrying essential nutrients so that I can keep functioning. My heart will beat over 115,000 times today. Which means that something will be tangibly working on my behalf to sustain my life 115,000 today – just because. My lungs will function in such a way that I will take around 25,000 breaths today. Again, 25,000 occurrences of life producing activity on my behalf that I don’t even have to think about. Even more remarkable is the messaging happening in my brain. My brain in sustaining and making life and all its variables work together with over a billion neurotransmissions (messages) in over a trillion synapses (connections). This is happening every millisecond. Which means, every second my brain is capable of producing more life-producing messages and connections than there are countable stars in the Universe. Beyond the science, these functions are a constant and continual gift that I cannot make happen. They have been given to me.

These three functions; breath, water (blood) and word (messages) are the original creative forces that are alive within me. The same forces in which all of creation begins is still working within me. I am a part of a continuation of God’s original creative work just by living. This is an unbelievable and incredible reality that will happen whether I recognize it or not. It does not crave notoriety or recognition. It is a gift without strings. It only asks that I take responsibility for the gift and use it well. 

What these every day, taken-for-granted miracles let me know is God has created a Universe and bent the whole thing in our direction. He has bent it all for our living and my flourishing. He gives life and sustains life and will prove it thousands, millions, billions and trillions of times today. I can often sit around begging for super-natural grace, a big-time miracle. However, if I come to my senses, slow down and listen I can notice the overwhelming grace given in a single minute of life. This goodness that is embedded in the natural order of things is called common grace. It is anything, but common. It is miraculous. It is a gift, it is life. And, as long as I have the miracle of life, I can keep going. So, today I will trust the evidence of the common grace around me, and know that whatever I’m facing, God has bent life in my direction. “What shall we say then? If God (and His Universe of love) is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)