Grace on Parade

Spreading the fragrance of God's grace everywhere

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Let Me Tell You Some Good News

I love talking with my Aunt Katherine.  She has a passion for missions and evangelism. She lives her Christian life out there on the edge. She’s blunt.  You know where you stand with her.  She’s authentic.

She is also a woman full of God’s wisdom.  I don’t remember what we were talking about one particular day but she made the comment, “Whenever I interact with someone, I need to make it my intentional goal that when I leave that person, they will know unmistakedably that they are loved by Jesus.”

That’s quite a tall order.  And yet, I think she is right.  This past weekend, I taught my “Yes You Can!” teaching ministry seminar where I repeated many times, “Every moment is a teachable moment” and “Make every opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.”  I made the point that we have so little time with the children we teach; we dare not waste a single moment on trivial and unfocused material.

Chocoate Factory
“So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that.”

That’s true in our personal lives as well. We have so little time – we need to make each moment count.  It’s not necessarily what we say, but what we do and who we are.  One of the most compelling ways we can communicate God’s love is by modeling His grace to others – by going the extra mile in showing people they are importnat to us, by reacting with compassion and kindess, and by overlooking weaknesses and faults instead of pointing them out.It’s like Paul said in his farewell address to the elders at Ephasus in Acts 20:24:. “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”  Gospel means good news.  Grace – the concept that Someone wants to lavish generous love on us even though we don’t deserve it – is definitely good news!

I’m with Paul.  My focus in life is to share the evidence of God’s grace with those around me  so that, as Aunt Katherine says, there is no doubt in their minds when I leave that Jesus loves them.

As the paraphrase from The Message says, how will you let everyone know about the extravagant generosity of God today?

 

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Grace Returned

People should go to baby showers with a smile on their face. My expectation made me feel even more unraveled as I arrived at a recent shower with a bunch of burdens I had allowed to sour my mood. Attacked by the unguarded moments of a dementia-bound relative and frustrated by my inability to go shopping for the perfect baby shower gift, I zoned out on the endless chatter of a conversation dominating table mate.

I shook myself inwardly. I needed to stop thinking about myself and focus on others. I looked toward the table where the baby’s family sat. Grandma was jiggling a fussy newborn and the nervous mama hovered nearby. I wondered if they would allow me to hold the baby.

baby
Sometimes we just need to heold a baby!

Surely everyone else wanted to hold the baby! Then again, perhaps removing the responsibility of caring for the baby would help them relax and enjoy the gifts and friends who had come to celebrate with them. I warred within myself then decided to just do it.

The Treasure of Life

When I asked if I could hold the baby, the grandmother smiled with pride and delight, easily relinquishing the small bundle. Yet she hovered nearby as the baby continued to fuss. Twenty-five years slipped away and my mind retrieved the techniques I had used to quiet my own colicky children. I jiggled the baby on her tummy. I fed her a bottle, then positioned her on my shoulder, gently rubbing her back in just the right spots. As the baby relaxed, so did mom and grandma. Soon, to the grandmother’s amazement, the infant sagged on my shoulder and slept, her small face nuzzled in my neck, for over an hour!

Several women commented that I must have a magic touch with babies. I had to laugh. I was the nervous Nellie until my children reached the age of two. There are lots of women who were far more adept with babies than me. I’m usually the last to offer to hold a baby. I wondered at my own uncharacteristic behavior.

One woman, who knew of my struggles of the past week, articulated the reason. “I think you needed that baby.” She was right. That day, I was facing the fact that one close to me was starting the process of slipping away and that one of my daughters would soon move to another country where our contact with her may be limited. That day, even though I couldn’t express it, I had a deep craving to cling to life.

And God in His goodness, settled that baby so I could cradle and soothe and treasure her for a few short moments. It was God’s little grace-gift to me, the gift of holding life close to my heart.

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Undeserved Grace

“I can’t believe you are doing this,” a nursing home staff personal leaned across the counter toward Bernie. “I would never do that for my ex.”

Neither could the rest of Bernie’s family. For years, the slender woman had suffered verbal abuse and marital neglect from her hot tempered husband.Cartoon angry face In chronic pain, he took out his frustration on all who lived within the walls of his home. His daughter tells how she would heave a sigh of relief at the end of a day because there had been no blow-ups – only to be woken late at night by his yelling.

Finally, Bernie could take no more. She sought legal separation and moved into her own apartment. As a Christian, she believed she needed to keep a door open for the possibility of reconciliation. Time after time, he would call her to run errands for him, call the emergency room for him or take care of some small detail. Even after he moved into a nursing home because he could not care for himself, she still oversaw his needs.

“You don’t have to do this,” her children pleaded. “Separation means you are separated. He has siphoned everything out of you and will continue to use and abuse you if you keep contact with him. Let him go.”

“But he has no one else,” she said. “As a Christian, aren’t I supposed to be kind?”

Her actions flew in the face of sensibility.

Yet, grace often does. Grace is giving someone what they don’t deserve even if it means the sacrifice of ourselves to do it. And a watching world will nitce.

And her corner of the world noticed. And marveled.

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Kindness by the Slice

It was one of the longest and hardest days of my life. Fired from his ministry for no stated reason, my husband found a church three states away. Unable to sell our home in time, we cleaned it the best we could and left it in the hands of a real estate agency.

As we left, pulling a U-Haul behind our mini-van, we felt like we were sneaking out of town in shame even though we had done nothing wrong. Only a few confused friends helped us pack. No one came to say good-bye that final morning. Weary and disheartened, my husband and I bit our tongues multiple times to keep from venting on each other.

Our plan was to meet my husband’s sister and mother part way for a final get together before we moved even farther from his family. It was a good thing we did, for 80 miles out of town, the transmission blew on our van. Forced to make tough decisions quickly, we opted to leave Jack and our 90 pound Labrador in a hotel while the transmission was fixed. I and the girls rode with Jack’s sister to her home in Atlanta. En route, we decided I would fly to Ohio the next day so I could meet the moving van. The girls would stay with Annie until Jack could get a rental car, pick them up and bring them on to Ohio.

God Met Our Need

slice of pizza
God knew what we needed!

Feeling weary beyond belief, displaced and unloved, we wandered into a Cici’s pizza at 9:30 that evening. The manager greeted us warmly. “It’s late,” he said. “I don’t have much pizza out, but eat what you want. If you want something that isn’t out there, I’ll make it up fresh for you.” His words seemed too good to be true. Would he charge us extra? We timidly asked if he could make a ham and pineapple pizza for us.”No problem,” he grinned, seeming in no hurry to put a sign on the door as the minute hand swung past the 10:00 closing time. Slowly, we felt ourselves relaxing and gain new energy and hope.

Finally we stood to leave. He hurried over. “Let me box the rest of that pizza up for you,” he said, handing my sister-in-law the bill. We were incredulous. Not only had he made extra pizza for us and ignored the closing time, he gave us a substantial discount. We had not told him our story of why we were there in the first place. He never knew how much two women and two young teenage girls needed someone to show some kindness to them that day.

But God knew. God must have whispered in his heart than some strangers would need several slices of kindness served up in the form of ham and pineapple pizza.

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"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."
- 2 Corinthians 2:14

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