Growing Our Faith Together

This morning I cleaned my stove. You know, took out the burners and the drip pans and cleaned all the accumulated gunk. Most of it wiped up easily, but a few spots took a little elbow grease and some steel wool pads. Before long, the stove looked shiny and (nearly) new.

As I worked, my mind meandered, as it tends to do. I thought about all those meals I’d cooked on this stove. Would you believe it? Twenty-seven years’ worth of meals. That’s a lot of years and a lot of meals. Any botched meals were the fault of the cook, not the stove. It endured boil-overs, splatters, occasional burned food, and spills on the burners.

As my mind wandered, I couldn’t help but compare myself to that stove. Twenty-seven is pretty ancient for a stove. Now I don’t consider myself ancient, but I am retired, and I am on Medicare. Even though I don’t like the title, I am officially classified as elderly.

In all my years, I’ve botched so many things, said or done the wrong thing to the wrong person. I have boiled over in anger, regretting words that came out of my mouth. Over the years, there have been countless occasions where I’ve just made a mess of things. I haven’t followed God’s recipe for my life. I’ve been spiritually careless and taken things and people for granted.

 I am so grateful that God is always willing to clean up my messes. No matter what I have said or done, or how often I have ignored his suggestions, he is willing to forgive. Even when I make a huge mess, He helps me clean it up, He forgives and offers me grace. He opens my eyes to truth and wisdom in His word, and he shows me a better way.

Are you ready to ask Him to help you clean up your messes and offer you grace?

During my walk, a song kept running through my head:  “Dancing with my Father God in fields of praise.” In my mind, I changed “praise” to “grace.” I heard these words in my head: “Dancing with my Father God in fields of grace.” My feet kept the rhythm as I walked and  contemplated those words. “Grace” quickly dominated my thoughts. My grandmother, Grace, lived graciously. My mother, also Grace, was a gracious hostess. My name, Nancy, means “full of grace,” my cousin named her daughter Grace, and my granddaughter is Emma Grace. Grace has become a family name.

The song, of course, refers to God’s grace. Only through His grace will we enter the kingdom of heaven. The idea of dancing in fields of grace is so joyous and freeing. Can you imagine dancing for joy in God’s presence?

As I walk, the words sink home. Isn’t the church our field of grace? The church is a family of people who’ve accepted God’s grace and extend it to others. Isn’t “grace” a family name for believers? Just as we’ve received God’s grace, let us all freely extend grace and dance together joyfully with our Father God.

I Timothy 1:14 “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”