The Giving Keys.

This year, for Christmas, my sister Maggie got all the girls in the family these cool key necklaces. I love keys (and have given them as gifts before!), but these offer a little bit more.

They are from The Giving Keys. This company employs homeless people that engrave and assemble the necklaces (and other cool accessories- like rings and phone cases!).

Caitlin Crosby, the founder, started the company with the idea that “in a way we are all like these keys — unique, flawed, scarred, and at risk of being discarded.” I love that.

The other catch with The Giving Keys <is that when the key has served you well, you are supposed to pay it forward to someone else who needs it.

Mine says "grace." On my drive home, I was thinking about what the word "grace" means. Grace is not sweet or amazing unless we realize our desperate need for it. This is the upside down kingdom: When we realize that we are sinful creatures, full of lust and greed and selfishness- and we put all of that at the feet of The King- then what we get back is overwhelming grace. That is supremely humbling.

I need lots and lots of grace, so I'm sure I'll have my key for quite a while. It's a reminder, tied around my neck, of my need for oceans of grace.

"Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”