on Christmas eve i was rushing home. i had been visiting justin and his family all weekend and it was time to head over and spend time with my dysfunctional family. 😉 i was hustling down the road, not paying attention to my speed, when i saw the dreaded cop car pull out. OH CRAP. my heart sunk and my stomach twisted. i KNEW those blue lights were for me. how was i going to handle this? i can barely afford to pay the bills i have now, how was i going to afford to pay for a speeding ticket? the cop tapped on my window and asked for my license. i handed it over with pure fear in my eyes. he asked if i had ever received a ticket before, and i told him the truth. i hadn’t. he walked back to his car to check things out. merry Christmas to me. the perfect gift of getting a speeding ticket. that’s all i could think of. how was i going to pay for this thing? just my luck. if it wasn’t for bad luck, i’d have no luck at all. lovely.

as the officer headed back to my car, he gave me the best gift ever. GRACE. he told me to slow down and to have a Merry Christmas. wow. that was the best gift i could have received. so humbling to be gifted with grace. he could have given me a ticket, which is what i deserved, but he didn’t. he showed me grace instead. he showed me kindness and trusted me to get better about my speed. so so thankful!

i know Christmas is over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep the Christmas spirit alive. i am so thankful for that officer showing me grace that evening. i didn’t deserve it, but he gave it to me anyway. it’s like God showing us grace and kindness even in times when we least deserve it. so i challenge you (and me too haha) to keep this spirit alive. be kind to people even when you feel they don’t deserve. show grace at times when it’s hard. you could be blessing someone immensely by showing them God’s love through your actions. ♥

and because posts are more fun with pictures, here’s a shot of a sweet little angel (peyton) from the Christmas play. 🙂