Creatively Unfiltered Grace

If I Were to Open a Shop

If I were going to open a shop, it wouldn’t be selling clothes or candles or pretty little trinkets. No, my shelves would carry something so rare and so powerful that no price tag could ever match its worth: unconditional, unmerited love.

The world deserves unconditional love. Every single person does. And for me, unconditional love isn’t just a nice feeling—it’s who God is. God is love. I almost want to say I’d sell God’s love, but how could I? You can’t sell what was given for free. That love was poured out on the cross, through Jesus—God in the flesh—who gave His life so we could experience love in its purest form.

Alongside unconditional love, my shop would stock mercy and kindness—because the world is starving for these virtues. Love should make us want to understand people more deeply, and that understanding should make us kinder. But sometimes—even when we love someone—we can still be unkind or merciless, especially if they’ve hurt or disappointed us. That’s why mercy matters. It creates space for grace and healing.

And kindness? It’s often misunderstood, seen as weakness in today’s world. But real kindness is strength. It chooses gentleness when harshness would be easier. It believes in people even when they seem unworthy of love.

But there’s something even more essential: presence. Because loneliness is a silent epidemic. In the U.S. alone, over 49,000 people died by suicide in 2023—a heartbreaking number that shows how deeply many feel isolated and unseen. Presence—just being there, offering support—is a lifeline when someone feels utterly alone.

When I faced my own health challenges, like undergoing a partial hysterectomy, I realized just how powerful presence is. Having someone there—even quietly—can hold back the darkness in ways words can’t.

So my shop would package presence, alongside unconditional love, mercy, and kindness—not as religious check boxes, but as real, living expressions of God’s love and compassion.

Because here’s the truth: the world needs more than religion. It needs Jesus in action—people living out their faith through love, mercy, kindness, and presence. Not just following rules, but embodying a relationship with Jesus. Without love, all the doing is empty.

This is what I’d sell. And it’s exactly what the world desperately needs.