"MAY GRACE AND PEACE

BE YOURS IN THE FULLEST MEASURE."

I Peter 1:2

I don't know about you but I could stand to have a little more grace, a little more peace.  But that means if I am given more grace, I must extend it as well.  That surely brings peace.

If you know what it's like to raise a child with mental or emotional issues such as our adopted sons, one of whom is a teenager still in our home, then you need perhaps a little more grace in the fullest measure in your house.  Peace can be illusive though it can be kept in the heart though the devil tries to steal it away.  The tug of war is perhaps more daunting as the spiritual battle for their soul wages.  Lies may slip off their tongue as if it is their native tongue at times.  Partial truths are believed leading to false conclusions.  If you are like me, as a parent we want to embrace and believe what is said.  The last thing we want to do is to snatch hope away from them.  Yet, how many times do we keep on hoping as in I Corinthians 13:7 "Love...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things," only to find we have once again been deceived.   It doesn't say love ignores all things.  Only grace keeps us going.  

Susannah Wesley said, "Maintain consistent discipline, encourage open confessions and forgiveness for wrongs, praise acts of obedience, allow no sinful act to go unpunished, never bring up past offences, accept intent over perfect performance...No indulgences of self will can be trivial, no denial unprofitable; Heaven or Hell depends on this alone.  A parent who studies to subdue it in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving of their soul.  The parent who indulges it does the devil's work, makes religion impractical, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul, and body forever." (And this is only a partial bit of her advice on how to raise children, but we have to admit that she did a good job in her sons John and Charles Wesley.)

Romans 1:7 is similar, 

"to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints (holy ones):

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Grace is a God thing.  Peace was declared over a manger where our Lord lay, the Prince of Peace.  God had good will towards men, even to those who rebel.   May peace rule our home, the kind that isn't determined by outward circumstances, and with the kind of grace that keeps on giving and looks for the beautiful.

Here's a succinct word picture by Masahide (1657-1723)…

"Barn's burnt down; 

Now I can see the moon."