I Will Love You Freely

The Human Economy of Love

We grow up in an entirely different economy of love than God’s love.  Simple behavior modification methods train us from infant on up that certain behaviors are acceptable and others are not.  If we behave well, the consequence is reward.  If we behave badly, the consequence is punishment.  Please do not misunderstand, it is necessary to do this. Even God provided the law as a means of disciplining and guiding his people to maturity, both in relation with each other (socially) as well as in relation to Himself.

Cultivating Middle Age Wisely: Grace

A couple of weeks ago, a lady came to our home regarding our little 87-year old's recent move to Assisted Living. She had the pleasure of meeting my mother briefly before she left.  When I spoke to Cindy the following day, she commented how beautiful my mother was, and how happy and peaceful she looked. Then, she made this statement about her, using her hands to emphasize what she was about to say: 

She just… radiates...oh she just radiates grace!

For some reason her statement struck a chord in me.  Not that I didn't know that my mother radiated grace. In fact, I often lovingly call to her and say, "Hey Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" Her name is Mary, she truly is full of grace and if you knew her story, you would know the Lord truly is with her!  It amazed me that a total stranger could see so clearly in a matter of less than five minutes what we see emanating from her daily! So, when I talk about cultivating grace, this gives a real-life example of how it is possible to cultivate grace to such a degree that it is evident to others.

Defining Grace

What comes to your mind when you think about grace? Is it Divine pardon? God’s unmerited favor? Divine assistance? Is it the little prayer of gratefulness you say before meals? Is it just being nice? Is it merely elegance and beauty in movement and form? Is it an allowance of extra time to pay a bill?

Personally, I thought for years growing up that it was my nickname. I was a clumsy child, so every time I tripped over that pesky piece of lint, stumbled over my own little feet, or ran in to something accidentally, my family would say, "There goes Grace!” Later in life, I did my legal internship with a Christian sole practitioner whose business motto was Practicing Law with Grace, so everyone that walked into the office thought they were being clever by asking if I was Grace with whom he practiced law. Everybody wants to be a comedian.

But really, what is grace and how do we cultivate it? Well, I could spend weeks giving an exhaustive exegesis on Christian theology and the manifold meanings of  Divine grace, and truthfully we would barely scratch the surface.  However, the grace I had in mind for this post is more along the lines of social grace. I dare say though, that the two are very closely related as you may well see. If you would like to read an excellent, fully understandable exposition on the Christian theological view of grace, I highly recommend a book by Philip Yancey titled, What’s So Amazing About Grace?

Porcupine People, Thorns in the Flesh, and Other Prickly Problems

Nearly one year ago, my family and I took in our beloved 86-year old childhood neighbor and friend. I had been trying for a few years prior to this transition to convince her to sell her home and move to a retirement community, but she had been in her house since she was adopted at the age of nine and it was understandably hard for her to leave. Her adopted mother passed away in 1982, and she had no family of her own. Her home was all she had. We eventually learned that the local police had been called to her home quite frequently, so they ultimately reported her to Adult Protective Services. Desiring to do the right thing out of gratitude for her kindness to three generations of our family, we brought her to live with us with the intention of nursing her back to her optimum health, helping to get her affairs in order and determining what the best living arrangements would be at such a time.

We had no idea what we were signing up for when we did.