Kindness and grace

I've been thinking about kindness recently - mainly because I've been shown so much.

* Some of it has been funny - like the man who helped me to escape when I got trapped on the wrong side of the barriers in the New York subway! (I had to crawl out...)

* Some of it has been very moving - I had a meeting with S, a children's author, who made a very kind comment about the personal cost of writing, and how we may be surprised by what God is most pleased with when we see Him face-to-face. (I'm still pondering on that one.)

* Some of it was so generous and unlooked for - my delightful hosts, T & C, in Connecticut were SO kind, SO generous, SO welcoming. It struck me that they had no reason for their kindness - they'd never met me before - it was purely graceful kindness.

My favourite definition of GRACE is that it is God's HUGE kindness to people who don't deserve it. I feel that I've seen little images of that grace this week - something I've greatly appreciated, and which has pointed me back to our wonderful God of all grace. What joy - as people who know we are undeserving - if we can say with confidence that, because of Jesus, we know God's grace and have the privilege of calling Him our Father.