Noonday Notes, Issue 46
Grace is a Gift
Noonday Notes
Issue No. 46
May 8th, 2026
A year ago, I started writing these notes without really knowing what they would become. I think I just wanted to write. If you know me, you know I’ve wanted to be a writer pretty much my whole life. Submitting poems to publishers and writing contests in middle school; hiding book reports no one assigned me on classical composers in a recipe box in my closet in 3rd grade. Too specific to be untrue. Weird? No, not me. That’s normal behavior for a person trying to figure out why they have a desire to create.
But it hasn’t just been about writing. It has also been the practice of awareness and attention. Throughout the week I practice being open to receiving some sort of insight, idea, or clarity that I can try to understand enough to then write about. It’s about clearing the channels so the words can come through. Flow state. Holy Spirit. Who knows. I just know I feel it. And that we are in this together, you and me. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear from one of you about how the Notes impacted you. The garden is at work, I’m just a field reporter.
Volume One of the Noonday Notes has closed, but don’t worry we are weaving something special with them. Themes in this first volume dug through seasons of trials, new life, formation, and harvest. Death. Redemption. Sanctification. Jubilee. Ah, the Good Life.
This weekend, on May 10th, I’ll also celebrate what I call my “salvation birthday.” Three years ago, my old self died when my Creator redeemed our relationship. God brought life back into places I thought were completely finished, like farming, and play, and loving others through food. God gave me more than a garden, he gave me a playground to better understand his grace.
Something I’m learning about grace lately is I didn’t believe I was worthy of the kind of love it takes to even give grace. When I would hear people say "I know I’m still a sinner, but I’m also forgiven,” I would cringe and judge them for using loopholes they couldn’t prove to excuse their weekend behavior.
But now I think I get it. I know my inner thoughts, I know my condition, I know my brokenness. I know what no other human knows about myself, and I know all of that muck has the cost of death. And yet, the very being who made me also loves me enough to save me from that bondage. Not because I earned it. Not because I get sad. But because grace is always a gift.
That Truth changed my life because with that Truth I was given a new life, a new heart, and renewed spirit. That’s my testimony and I’m sticking to it. So here’s to another year of Noonday Notes, reflections on life and farming. Let Volume Two begin!