Being high on grace

Have you ever gotten drunk? Or high? On drugs maybe?

Ha! Don’t look at me. I haven’t.

But there was one time when a few of us went out of town and we stopped at a farm which used berries (not grapes) to make wine. The wine tasting was so good that I got a bottle. Unfortunately, it was Spring Break, and my friends were not around to help me finish it. What was I going to do with a bottle of good red wine staring me in the face?

Honestly, I tried. Sip by sip. My church people judging me already. I definitely didn’t get drunk, but that spring break, I slept a lot! And boy, did I need that sleep. I felt like brand new after that break. But I realised that I should probably lay off wine for a long time. By the way, for those of you wondering, I had some help afterwards. I couldn’t finish it all by myself. The other time I indulged was with a few colleagues, in a small apartment, seated cross legged on a Korean floor, surrounded by wine, ice cream, and chocolates.

I like experimenting in the kitchen and alcohol is actually a great ingredient for many recipes. Especially Christmas recipes. Imagine sprinkling some Irish Cream over some oats and raisins to give your homemade granola some extra perky flavour. Thankfully, my little nieces are far away enough that they won’t beg me for a spoon of Cerelac-infused boozy cereal. I would have a hard time explaining that to their parents!

I have always found it incredibly interesting that the Bible parallels being filled with the
Spirit to being drunk on wine (Ephesians 5: 18). Say what? As in the only difference is who or what is controlling you because either by wine or by the Spirit, you’ll definitely be under the influence. That’s why it’s ridiculous to get drunk. I’d like to give control to something or Someone who knows how to lead, not a rowdy agent.

You can probably relate to being filled with the Spirit (where are all my Jesus girls and church people?). But can we widen things a little here?

There is this thing called grace. A person, actually.

How shall I put it? I’ve known about the grace of God all my life, or at least, most of it. Seriously, my name is Grace. But then, one day, (well, it took more than a day), it was as if I was seeing everything brand new.

It’s hard to explain something so obvious. But it comes out in the way I see people, the
things I say, the things I do. And several times, I even shock myself. Because now that I have come to understand that Jesus is grace, the things that used to upset me, shock me, worry me, anger me, scare me, well, they don’t anymore. And I react in a way that makes me sure that it is definitely not me doing it.

And I love it when I’m out of control like that. When I’m irrationally kind and generous, patient and understanding. And instead of calling the idiot who crossed me in traffic names, I actually continue humming a song in my head like nothing happened.

When you see me like that, I’m definitely high on grace.

It’s not because I’ve got it all together!

So whether on the road or in church, in dusty hot Accra or somewhere in Kenya, dating a hot guy or reading a book, in love or out of love, stay high on grace!