Grace Is in the Showing Up

Years ago, a mentor told me something I keep returning to: "Grace is in the showing up, not in the showing well."

He meant: God is not waiting for the polished version of you. He is meeting the actual one. The one who is tired. The one who is distracted. The one who already failed today.

The showing-well trap

Many of us were taught, somewhere along the way, that we have to clean ourselves up to come to God. We don't pray when we're angry; we wait until we're calm. We don't open the Bible when we're in a fog; we wait until we're "in the right headspace." We don't sit in silence until our thoughts behave.

But God is not embarrassed by our actual state. He is, in fact, the one who came down into it.

What showing up looks like

It looks like opening the Word with no idea what you'll get out of it. It looks like a thirty-second prayer in the car. It looks like saying, "Lord, I have nothing for you today, and I am here anyway."

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28

You will be surprised by what happens when the bar is just show up. Not show well. Just show.

A practice

For the next seven days, lower your bar. One verse. One minute. One sentence prayer. That's it. Don't try to feel anything. Don't try to be transformed. Just show up.

You will likely find that grace was already there, waiting for you to walk through the door.