Grace

I Timothy 6:21
Overwhelming grace keep you.

I'm having trouble finding a passage to comment on. I just kept reading through the verses of I Timothy until I got to the end. What a gem in the final verse of chapter 6. Overwhelming grace keep you. That is what will keep us, nothing else. We can't count on our health, our money, our family and friends, but we can count on grace.
The traditional definition of grace we are taught in church is unmerited favor of God. We can't do enough to earn grace. We can't make a list of good deeds to check off or a list of rituals to perform, but we can ask God for his forgiveness, mercy and grace. That's it-ask and accept. Man has through the years complicated the grace of God by telling Christians that they must walk a certain way, look a certain way, but God's way is simple.
I am counting on overwhelming grace right now. I've had to be out and about this week more than usual because I am getting ready for Christmas. Every where I go, I run into people who are kindly asking how we are doing. Most of the time I am able to say, "We're making it." I can't say anything else right now. Each day brings new challenges. I am baking and making candy for Christmas, and Jason's favorites are hard to make. I have to laugh though when I remember how many times Jason volunteered me to bake cookies or cook something. When he was in elementary school, his teachers joked with me because no matter what kind of event they were planning, Jason would say, "My mom will make cookies." He was right; I would.
The first time he went to church camp, I sent chocolate chip cookies with him. The next year on the night before he was leaving for camp again, he came in and asked if I had his cookies ready yet. I was leaving the next day to take cheerleaders to camp, so I had completely forgotten. When I said I hadn't made any, he said, "Mom, you ALWAYS make cookies for us! Guess what, I baked cookies until midnight so that we would continue our "tradition." I miss him so much.