Spilled Milk and Grace

This morning was a typical morning.  Big E’s alarm went off and he crawled into bed with us for a little morning time snuggle.  (Seriously…if he doesn’t get this it’s bad news for the rest of the day).  After about five minutes we got up and ready for the day.  7:30 hit and we settled down for breakfast and morning devotions.  Throughout devotions I reminded Big E over and over again to be careful not to spill his milk.  Devotions finished.  I told Big E to finish his milk and instead of drinking it normally he decided that holding on to it with four fingers (two on each hand) was much better than 10 fingers….thus spilling his milk everywhere.

I got upset.  Yup….it happens every. single. time.  He’s not paying attention and spills his drink all the time.  Seriously…the kid is five and I’m sure he will be drinking out of sippy cups until he’s twelve.  Anyway…I got upset.  Milk was wasted…paper towel was wasted.  He had to change his clothes…which results in me having to do more laundry than normal.  Why was I upset?  Maybe because I had told him at least a dozen times to be careful with his milk.  At least….a dozen times.

Then I sent him off to school….after I got mad at him.  After he apologized at least half a dozen times and after I DIDN’T say…”it’s ok…I know it was an accident.”  Yeah..big time mom fail right here.  (Pointing finger at myself)

Half an hour later I was in the car by myself and listening to my own music which is a very rare occassion in itself.  Three minutes into my drive the song “Grace like Rain” by Todd Agnew came on my ipod.  If you  haven’t heard it…have a listen.

And right there, into the chorus, God had a teachable moment with me.

“And Hallelujah Grace like rain falls down on me”

Grace like rain.

Let’s just take that literary shall we.  Rain falls.  Sometimes it falls softly…sometimes it pours and beats down on us….but it always comes down and refreshes things that need to be refreshed.  We need rain.

We need grace.  Big time.  Can you imagine a world without Grace? Isn’t it simply amazing to think that God is up there watching us and “showering” us with grace when we need it the most…sometimes when we don’t even deserve it?  Sometimes He showers it lightly…other times He pours it down on us.  Have you ever met somebody who wasn’t grateful for the grace they received?  Me either….grace is wonderful.  Grace makes the world go around.  Grace  makes you feel refreshed, so much better and so grateful.  God gives it….God provides it and God keeps pouring it out on us.

So my lesson???  Yeah..you guessed it.  Grace.  I should have given Big E grace this morning.  He’s five.  Yes..he should have been more careful but haven’t we all done things that we weren’t careful of.  Hasn’t there been somebody in your life that has told you not to do something and you went ahead and did it anyway…the end resulting in “spilled milk”?

This morning I prayed and thanked God for the teachable moment of Grace.  I could have easily gotten in an accident and been killed and the last thing that BIg E would have remembered was me being upset with him.  God gave me grace this morning and I intend to pass that along.

I apologized to Big E and told him that I love him even when he doesn’t listen to me and bad things happen.  I told him I will be try not to get upset next time and that I hope he forgives me.  He knows what he did was wrong.  I don’t need to tell him again.

Instead…I just need to give him grace.

~ Laura

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When is enough, enough?

A friend of mine just recently got a ticket for speeding.  This is the second ticket that my friend has received…but the first for speeding.

When I was talking to this person the question came up?  “Why me?  Why couldn’t the guy stop the three other cars in front of me going the same speed?  I was only following traffic.”

The first ticket my friend received was for not fully stopping at a stop sign.  Now, every time they come to that stop sign that person sits at the stop sign for a good minute.  Why?  I’m guessing to prove a point to the  invisible police that they have fully stopped at a stop sign.

It’s funny how we don’t seem to want to take responsibility for our actions…we always tend to blame it on somebody else or other circumstances in our lives.  “Well officer I didn’t know the roads here…so I wasn’t fully prepared for that stop sign”..(even though they have been down that road at least fifteen times in the course of two years….and let’s not mention the fact that it’s a stop sign…which is a universal language to STOP…completely..it’s the L.A.W.)  or “I wasn’t familiar with the way things are done around here”…or “well that’s how I did it last time”.

Excuses…all of them.  Blaming everybody else but ourselves.

I’m to blame…I do it all the time.  “Wasn’t me.  Wasn’t my fault.”

And if that weren’t enough: there’s the lesson on forgiveness.

Oh we all know the rule…we need to forgive others.  We know it…we’ve been taught it since we were little.

However, I’m talking about the other forgiveness.  When WE are FORGIVEN.

My friend has gone and paid those two tickets.  Does that mean that they now completely stop at every stop sign or go the speed limit?

OF COURSE NOT…for we are not that bright!

We only learn the lesson long enough to forget it…(usually).  In fact I have seen this person just barely stop at stop signs and going about fifteen above the speed limit other times.

Why?

I think it’s because we know we have been forgiven…our fine has been paid…so let’s pretend it never happened.  “As long as I can’t see it sitting in front of me on that green legal paper then it’s not real”

Right?

I think the same works with our relationship with God.

We do something.  We know it’s wrong in His eyes.  We ask for forgiveness.  We are TRULY TRULY sorry.  God forgives us.  (1 John 1:9)

Then most times what happens?

We go out and do it again.  Sometimes not on purpose…but in the back of our mind we know that God will forgive us again.

We go back to the same old routine…we feel bad…apologize..God forgives us.

So when does it end?

Before you send me nasty emails…I know God will always forgive us.  I understand that.  But my question goes deeper.

When will we stop pushing the limits?  When will we stop hurting him?

When do WE start taking the blame, stop doing the wrong things we are doing and embrace the right things?

When is enough, enough?

 

Laura

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