Bearded By Grace is not just for the bearded manly man, a husband, or a dad. Bearded By Grace is for everyone. Mothers, daughters, grandparents, fathers, sons, all of God’s people. As I journey to a better understanding of what it means to be Living for the Lord, I hope to be an encouragement to you, in all your life’s travels. A place together we can grow, learn, and inspire each other’s gifts that have been so brilliantly graced to you by our God. Even if that happens to be a beard.
Bearded by anything else would be a real downer. My Story:
So why in the world would anyone in their right mind call their blog spot Bearded By Grace? Well, I am sure my wife and others around me would answer that question quite differently than I do. In any case, we need to start somewhere, so how about with the BEARD!? To me a healthy-looking beard takes patience, time, effort, patience, prep, patience, and character to pull off. Did I mention patience? Quite frankly, I believe I may only be able to claim one of those items, and I don’t believe it’s patience… none the less, I went with it. My beard started off short, very well groomed, actively trimmed, and fairly easy to maintain. As I would see others holding on to the bearded band wagon there were those few elite, the TRULY committed that sparked my interest. I began to dig a little bit into what it takes to have an exclamation point hanging off your face. I found pictures, web sites, and even competitions that were all committed to the beard. I may be a little sheepish to admit this, but I have even seen some magnificent and truly beautiful beards. So, I guess it is safe to say I was inspired.
Now, the more I started to work on the health of my beard and put in the time, the more I gained out of it… length, its softness, and over all its health. That fact was confirmed by my 5-year-old daughter. Who, by the way doesn’t let me out the front door until she makes sure The Beard is at its best. So far, I have learned 3 things. I don’t have patience. The more I take care of it the healthier it becomes. And my beard began a new type of relationship between me and my daughter. These are very important lessons I intend to learn from and “grow” toward.
Patience, Healthier Me, and Relationship Building: I have never been a very patient person. As I grow in my faith I need to be reminded more often than I care to admit that God is in control. Everything is done in His time. I can groom my faith, put in time and I can see and feel it become healthier. And that sparks a passion for LIVING and spreading his love for His people. Even a sinner like me. When I look into the mirror, multiple times a day now, I am reminded of His Love and patience and the healthier steps I take daily to grow towards Him. Now, a wonderful and unexpected result of having an apostle looking beard is that it happens to be a conversation starter, an ice breaker at times. But the best part is the relationships that have grown since I’ve been bearded. True, this could be all just a bearded coincidence. But I have a Gracious Heavenly Father that is teaching me patience, leading me to be healthier, and changing the world around me with new and greater developed relationships. These are truly some of the first steps to truly living. Coincidence? Nah, I’m bearded by Grace. How has your life been graced by God?
Bearded By Grace 
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