Roller Derby Grace

Recently, I've gotten on this new kick. 

While I was standing in line at Starbucks, I saw a poster,

A flier to be a part of a women's roller derby team.

And I was immediately intrigued.

Women's roller derby is a high intensity, high impact sport that involves a group of women, skating around a track, trying to score points, and basically slamming each other into walls.

It's not pretty.

It's not sweet.

It's aggressive,

And rough,

And in your face,

And I want to do it.

Does it matter that I actually have no idea how to roller skate?

Not at all.

Because my imagination started working.

And as I shared my new found dream with friends and family,

I received mixed reviews.

Some looks of confusion,

Looks of excitement,

Looks of fear for my safety,

And the statement,

"That just seems so masculine. It's so aggressive".

And as I was reading the book of Romans this morning,

I felt OK sitting in the truth that that was exactly the kind of woman I wanted to be.

An aggressive woman.

As followers of Christ, we are called to be full of love, full of forgiveness, full of grace.

And I don't know about you, but when I picture a woman that looks like that, I always saw a woman that calmly and patiently loves, never raising her voice, never shaking things up.

And I found that picture a hard one to relate to,

Because I'm none of those things.

But I felt such freedom when I read this today. 

"By sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down". ( Romans 5:21, The Message)

Grace is not soft.

Grace is not passive.

Grace is not easy.

Grace is aggressive.

Grace is aggressive because we have a God that aggressively loves.

A God that is not passive,

A God that chases after me even on my worst days.

A God that aggressively loves and chooses to compete with all the other things we put ahead of him,

And says " When you're ready, I'll be here".

But still,

Never stops loving.

So when I think about the kind of woman I want to be,

The kind of friend I want to be,

The kind of wife I want to be,

The kind of mother I want to be,

I want to aggressive.

I want to be a woman that aggressively loves.

That chooses to love,

Even when it's hard,

That choose to forgive,

Even when things are messy,

That chooses to be aggressive with grace,

And chases after it,

For myself,

And for others. 

Grace is like women's roller derby,

It's aggressive,

And rough,

And in your face,

And a great, great adventure.