Unmerited

We can never give enough, do enough good, help enough people to deserve God’s grace and favor. Every day we wake up is blessing. We can not do anything in our own strength. We have no control over our heart pumping blood through our body. We can’t control the air in our lungs. We exist because God allows it. Every day we experience God’s unmerited and undeserved favor, let’s not take it for granted.

Virtue

Merit. Morals. Morality. Strength. Courage. Standards. All of these words come to mind when I think of virtue. My imagination takes me to the time of Ladies and Lords, a time when chivalry was the norm. The four classic cardinal virtues are temperance, prudence, courage, and justice. Christianity derives the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love from 1 Corinthians. Love being the greatest of these. What virtues do we esteem? Do we still have morals and standards or is chaos the norm? Do we not respect each other? Have we lost our virtue? Has it slipped away from us under the guise of being politically correct? How do we get it back? 

"Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all." -Gilbert K. Chesterton

Merit

I used to be a Girl Scout. I loved earning merit badges. They were like my own little trophies across my chest. I would collect a few and my grandmother would sew them on for me. It was our own little thing. After she died, I just stapled and pinned them on. In life, we don't get to wear our accomplishments across our chest. We don't get to parade around all the moments we are proud of in our lives, but they still have merit. They still have meaning. They still matter. Take the time to appreciate all your merit badges. You earned them!