Grace upon grace

2026 has already been a bit of a whirlwind, but the word I have kept at the center of my mind is grace. Grace wasn’t originally my word for this year but I feel like it captures what this year has looked like so far and what it will continue to feel like. I have been learning what it means to give myself grace, give others grace, and what God’s grace truly means.

For as long as I can remember, grace has been an extremely hard concept for me to comprehend and accept. Why would it be okay if I don’t go to the gym every single day? Or get stright A’s? Or follow a strict morning and night routine every single day? In my mind, if those things don’t happen I am a failure, a disappointment, and do not deserve the good things of this life. And the hardest part isn’t incorporating these things into my life. Harder than being disciplined, structured, and motivated at all times is giving myself grace.

Giving myself space to breathe and understanding that even if I don’t get everything on my to-do list done in a day I am still going to be okay. I am not a failure. I can try again tomorrow.

And this concept, surprisingly enough, makes me LESS lazy. More motivated and disciplined and structured. Because it’s okay that I didn’t go to the gym today and I don’t have to give up, I can go to the gym tomorrow and I do. I choose to make the better choices for myself because it’s okay if I go to sleep a little bit late one day or wake up a little bit late the next morning. I can try again. And that’s the beautiful thing about life, we have the chance to try again!

This is such a wonderful picture of the gospel. Even though we mess up again and again and again, God is infinitely loving, infinitely faithful, and infinitely gracious. His mercies are new every single morning! If we mess up, we can repent and ask for His forgiveness, He will forgive us, and then we can try again the next day. How beautiful is this: that we have a Creator, the God of the universe, who loves us enough to grant us the opportunities time and time again to push ourselves to be better for HIM! For His glory! The opportunities, although we fail, to try again!

And if God forgives us, how much also should we forgive others? We sin daily against a infinitely vast, and infinitely powerful God… and He chooses to forgive us every. Single. Time. Are we better than Him?

The answer: we should strive be gracious. We should strive to be loving. Forgive others, so they might also see Jesus through you :)

And if you don’t know Jesus, know that He forgives you for everything you’ve ever done. He wants to show you His love so that you might experience supernatural joy, peace, and grace here on earth, and forever!