Better Than I Deserve

I've been thinking all evening how really blessed I am. The handful of you who know me know how I answer the question "How are you?" ----
....Better than I deserve.
I spent the weekend in OKC with family and dearest of friends, and spent a little time talking with my son-in-law, who is quickly becoming the son I never had. He has a tender heart and loves the Lord, and isn't embarrassed to talk about spiritual matters. What a blessing that is! I have a faithful wife who loves me. What a blessing that is! My children are growing their own faith. What a blessing that is!
I could go on for days, but might overload the blog site.
Even with all those things I count as blessings, it is an Old Testament text which reminds me of the Grace of God and makes me answer "Better than I deserve."
It is Psalm 103 that my bible flips open to with little page-turning.
v. 8 ff
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
HE DOES NOT TREAT US AS OUR SINS DESERVE OR REPAY US ACCORDING TO OUR INIQUITIES. FOR AS HIGH AS THE HEAVENS ARE ABOVE THE EARTH, SO GREAT IS HIS LOVE FOR THOSE WHO FEAR HIM; AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST, SO FAR HAS HE REMOVED OUR TRANSGRESSIONS FROM US. AS A FATHER HAS COMPASSION ON HIS CHILDREN, SO THE LORD HAS COMPASSION ON THOSE WHO FEAR HIM...

How often do we take a breath and think of what grace is about? I spent the first forty-something years of my life living mostly under law...and grace is better.
Grace is the spring which brings life to how we should treat our brothers and sisters, as well as our enemies. It is grace which God uses to rain on the just and the unjust. It is grace which shows us how to forgive....not only when we are asked, but when we are not. It is grace which makes me so aware of my birth-blessing-- to be born into a Christian family against all odds in the world. To be blessed above almost every other human being on this planet. It is no small thing, this grace under which I mostly live; This grace I love and fear and occasionally turn away from to go my own way.
Without grace, who could know God as a compassionate and loving Father?
Without grace, I worry over this life and fear the death I will someday face.
But by the grace of God, I am truly, really, miraculously better than I deserve.

I suspect there are several out there who read this blog, though I know of only three or four. Do we live under the same grace? Do we have a common Master? Did Jesus die to free us? Is our eternity planned in adjoining rooms? If so, we have much to celebrate, because we are all better than we deserve.