Flashback: Grace & Love & Samoas

T was super excited about a book he just finished by Rachel Held Evans.  And even though I *should* fully absorb everything T tells me and is excited about, I don't.  I get distracted by things like the load of laundry I started 3 days ago.  Cutting to the chase, tonight I'm super excited by Rachel Held Evans.  I was catching up on paperwork reading some of my favorite blogs.  And I came across this gem of a quote by Rachel:

"One of the most destructive mistakes we Christians make is to prioritize shared beliefs over shared relationship, which is deeply ironic considering we worship a God who would rather die than lose relationship with us."

Tangent: I didn't really know what I was getting into 8 years ago when I married T.  I mean, I knew it wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows, but I didn't spend a ton of time vetting important things like, "Articulate your philosophy on antibiotics when you're sleep deprived & dealing with a feverish preschooler" and "Does grace extend to the occasional fender bender and major medical emergencies?"  So, me meeting and marrying and still thoroughly enjoying a guy that is excited by people like Rachel Held Evans is my personal testimony that there is some sort of higher power.  

Back to regularly scheduled programming:  My first reaction as I read this quote was "Yes! I love all people because my God did first!  This single quote captures the single most important tenant of my faith: unconditional love.  I may have broken out the box of Samoas to celebrate Rachel Held Evans.  

And then?  And then I remembered all of the moments over the not-so-distant past where I prioritized beliefs over relationship.   

Moments where I yelled at my kids because they don't share my belief about the value of vegetables and personal hygiene.  Moments where I ignore the pile of dishes because T doesn't share my belief about rinsing first.  Moments where I get really occupied by my phone instead of the arguing pair on the corner because they don't share my belief about conflict resolution.  

And then? And then I remembered Grace.  This beautiful, wipe-the-slate-clean caveat because no mistake is too big to undo the love and the holy and the sacred.  And that is why I choose faith.  Because as humans, we are wired for relationships.  But relationships are HARD.  Sometimes, people are WOUNDED and MEAN.  And the God I believe in knew this, and loves us unconditionally, and forgives us unconditionally, and calls us to do the same.