When we consider the “Y” in “Generosity,” we realize it could stand for yielding to God’s grace.

One phrase I read somewhere years ago has earned a cherished place in my home. It says “choosing to be utterly dependent on God.” Of course, we always are utterly dependent upon God, but it is the act of choosing this dependence, of accepting, welcoming and embracing it, that makes all the difference.

The reason our dependence on God is Good News, not bad, is because of God’s grace. Jim Harnish, in his book A Disciple’s Path, describes grace as the gift of God’s love that meets us where we are but loves us too much to leave us there. It is God’s love at work within us to transform our lives as a unique expression of God’s love not only for us but also through us to transform the world. This means that God is constantly at work in us to shape us into the likeness of Christ.

That’s a tall order! But it is God’s tall order, not our own. In the moments when I yield to God’s grace, I let my life lean into my relationship with God, like a kite leaning upon the wind. Acknowledging God’s incredible generosity towards me and towards all creation, I simply let God work at aligning my life along the intense, consistent lines of God’s love. Such yielding includes not only recognizing the sheer giftedness of life, but also the gift of God, Who cannot be grasped or possessed. God’s generosity, God’s grace, is simply too much ever to be contained.

Your partner in ministry,
Betsy Schwarzentraub

Written 10/2013 for Foothills UMC, Rescue, CA