Pure grace...

I love Philosophy skincare products. (This is hardly a paid endorsement - Philosophy does not know who I am!) I have sensitive skin and have tried dozens of different products. The Philosophy products suit me. Plus, the packaging and promotion is clever...for example:

This is the cleanser - Purity (made simple).
Lather, rinse - purity. Ah.
And how about this little jewel?


Hope...in a jar?
Yes, please. I'll take some.
Then there's this...


When hope is not enough...This cracks me up...we women of a certain age can relate to this when it comes to a skincare regime! Then it may be time to turn to this:


Ah...a miracle! That should do the trick!
But my favorite Philosophy product by far is not a cream or lotion, but a lovely light scent:


Pure grace...in a bottle! It has a clean, pure, soap-and-water scent that I love. And while none of the skincare products has resulted in anything that can be remotely described as a "miracle," I find spritzing on a little "pure grace" can remind me of a miracle - the miracle of grace. It has not been spritzed, but lavishly poured and I want that scent to emanate from my life...to fill the air around me. I brought that bottle to my Sunday School class and spritzed it around while we talked about one of my favorite verses, 2 Cor. 2:14:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ Jesus, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him."

I reminded the girls, like I try to remind myself, we should walk around smelling like Jesus - like grace...pure grace. It should season our speech:

"Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone." Col. 4:6

It should keep us humble:

"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God..." Eph. 2:8

It is enough:

"He said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you..." 2 Cor. 12:9

And as a friend sang last night,

"Grace keeps giving me things I don't deserve;
mercy keeps withholding things I do..."
(Thanks, Wayne Watson!)

We've been given so much...grace has been lavishly poured out upon our lives. Can I extend it, lavishly, generously, to others?
I want to. I want to smell like grace.
Pure grace.