[Marti wrote this yesterday in an email to a friend. I intercepted it for you. Enjoy!]

My desire is to do what is right. My result is to do what's wrong. Who can lead me out of this dilemma?

At the heart of the universe is the Law. What you put out comes back to you—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. As in physics, every action is met by an equal or opposite reaction. The Law is an exacting taskmaster. You reap what you sow.

And yet … along comes this unpredictable thing called Grace to upend everything. Grace defies reason and logic. It interrupts the consequences of our actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid things.

It is, therefore, Grace that keeps me on my knees.

Grace changes the world. She takes the blame, covers the shame, and removes the stain. Grace makes beauty out of the despicable, which is my middle name.

Grace overrules every unkept promise and tells reason when it's had enough. She's for everyone who needs her—every life that has no end, every knee not quite ready to bend. My graffiti tongue, my foot in every face, and every compromise made, finds Grace.

Grace navigates me to simply be and explains clearly in whom to trust, while always guiding me to be still, so I know when to surrender. To be still is very difficult for me to do. Yet, once I do, I come crawling and sometime falling to His feet.

When I was a younger woman, I threw stones at the obvious targets. As I've gotten older, I've turned more on myself, and the hypocrisy that I've found in my own heart. There is plenty of subject matter there. Yet, it is Grace who forges the way I choose to see the world, and at a deeper level, the way I see myself.

The law is not the enemy of God—not at all. Yet we have replaced the Law with a list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; and a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. The Law is good but we have replaced discipleship with discipline.

Please do not judge my irreverence. I truly am in awe that the God who created the universe is looking for company—a real relationship with people… with me. All the same, what keeps me on my knees is Grace.

From "The Catch Online" by John Fischer