Refreshed and renewed--and thinking about many things

"God is consistently overgenerous with His grace."

~ Brennan Manning, author/speaker

That's just a glimpse of where I was this past weekend--Glen Eyrie, a retreat center near my home.

My husband and I gave ourselves an early anniversary gift of a retreat featuring Brennan Manning, who spoke on grace. Hhhhmm. Wonder why the topic intrigued me? Michael Card led worship. And worship we did. I'm listening to his music as I type this post.

I took scads of notes--many of which are seeds for future installments of The Accidental Pharisee blog. So stay tuned.

The quote that I led off with was one of the first I scribbled down: God is consistently overgenerous with His grace.

Now, if I was in my true Pharisee-mindset--accidental or otherwise--I'd hear that and say, "Oh, really? Says who? Show me in the Word where it says God is overgenerous with His grace." We Accidental Pharisees, we're a prove-it-to-me bunch.

Well, I can!

Ephesians 1:8 says that God lavishes His grace on us. Lavishes. That sounds amazingly generous to me.

And you know what happens when you get all Pharisee-like and focus on the Law, on all the dos an don'ts? The Law squelches grace. It diminishes what God lavishes on us.

Thinking Out Loud Here: It's good for an Accidental Pharisee to get away from it all and come face to face with God. It's good to hang around with people who live in grace. It's good to immerse myself in a counter-culture--and to realize it's what I truly want.