Seeing Grace

I’ve found someone whom I want to be like.
(Have you ever felt that way? Maybe spent some time with or around a person, and thought, “I sure would like to be like her.”)
Last night I had the treat to spend some time with my two sisters. Each is special in her own way. Different than the other, yet both unique in how they are individually gifted with special qualities that make her distinctive.
I’m greatly blessed to have come to know them in my adult life. (I didn’t meet them until I was in my 30’s when my birth mother and I were reacquainted. But that’s another story…)
Anyway, as I spent time with them, conversing about our lives, our children, our faith in God and our journeys into midlife (Did I mention they are both older than I?) They’ve become so encouraging to/for me as I walk forward in the tumultuous uncertainty of aging.
But ‘aging gracefully’ is not what I’m wanting to emulate.
My one sister has the amazing ability to see people and circumstances through the generous eyes of grace.
She sees God and his work, his faithfulness and beauty, in all places and in the hearts and lives of individuals, even the ones that aren’t all put together.
(Which is most of us, really.)
Yet she displays in all our conversations the hope-permeated perception of God’s ongoing work in each life, and evaluates accordingly.
And this attitude shows up in her descriptions of her adult kids (did I mention they don’t attend church regularly), her church (did I mention they are going through some difficult times of trying to find unity when differing opinions arise over selecting a pastor), her father in law (did I mention he’s in full time care fighting a terminal brain tumor) or her husband (did I mention he’s often been out of work, or that their past included a close call in which God intervened to save their marriage?).
On & on her vision of God’s grace in all people and all things continues.
Where I might see disappointment or failure, she sees unfinished providence.
Where I note immaturity or sinfulness, she sees God’s faithful hand carving away at dross.
Where I might roll my eyes at the darkness, she points out the glimmer of light breaking through the clouds, and ‘What a brilliant hue of amber it is displaying!’ she’d likely exclaim.
Oh, to grow in trust and faith in order to have eyes that readily see God’s grace instead of first seeing through the lenses of human doubt, self righteous judgement or perfectionism.
I want to be like her.
To see the Grace brilliantly exploding from God’s hand as He performs his handiwork all around me.
To notice the ongoing brush strokes from His majestic pallet of providence all combining to create lives that display his glory….instead of noticing the individual blobs of paint on the canvas & quickly declaring that it looks like a 3rd grader’s dull fingerpainting and saying, “What’s the deal, God?!!”.
Give me eyes, Lord, to see the Grace infused in every life, in every day, as You continue your work.
And thank you for a person to remind me, who helps me rub clear my own eyes of its critical judgement, to see the beauty of You--and the work you're doing--all around me.