Today is just a common day at work. I have two little boys under my watch for the next 12 hours. I’ve been sitting next to one little one and his momma. I have watched them play and laugh together. I’ve seen the smile in her face when he says, “I LUV YOU MOMMA.” I’ve seen her wait expectantly to hear the news. Finally midday the news comes. The doctor walks in and assures the mom that the surgery worked, and that all is well. As soon as the doctor leaves the room, the mother’s eyes fill with tears. “He’s okay,” she says. I watch her as she makes the calls. With each call you see her burden lighten. With each call you see her profound love for what is hers. Her little man.
At the same time I’m sitting here reading Jesus is… by Judah Smith. I’m reading about GRACE. I’ve known about GRACE my entire life. Yet grasping, receiving it for me is a whole other story. Judah illustrates GRACE with the parable of the prodigal son. I remember learning that story in Sunday school. I can visualize the flannel graph of the son with his long beard sitting with the pigs with mud in his mouth. GROSS. This son was a young guy who took all of his Poppa’s inheritance for him, left home, and went on a HUGE shopping spree. He spent everything! Being far from home and with little experience he searched for jobs and must have found none! That’s most likely the reason he was helping out at a farm sitting in the mud with pigs. He was lost, he was hopeless, and he probably just missed the safety of home. So he returns. He heads home to find his Poppa. Maybe if he could just work for his dad, at least he would have a warm meal, and a place to sleep. Little did he know his dad was waiting for him. His dad was like this mother earnestly waiting for the news. Earnestly waiting for his return. When the son returned home, the father sees him from the distance and comes running to him. Running. That father was ready for his son. It’s as though he was running for the finish line, for the prize, for his baby. His son.
Grace is unmerited, undeserved, love. It is the extravagant, amazing, love of a Father who gave us HIS LIFE. A father who waits patiently for us. Jesus is GRACE talking, GRACE walking, and GRACE alive. Like this dad running for his son, like this mother’s tears in earnest waiting, just like that, is his love for us. Every day there are reminders around us of HIS love for us. During Easter we were reminded of his death and resurrection. I think that alone is the greatest reminder of GRACE. Through his death, he gave us life. He ran to give us LIFE, His shed tears to give us LIFE. And in that LIFE…GRACE.