“To each one of us grace has been given.” – Ephesians 4:7
Have you ever felt as if you were being watched, followed, or spied on? Or how about this, one day you suddenly became aware of the fact that someone has been following you around, watching your every move all your life, yet until that moment you had never realized it? Sounds creepy, doesn’t it? It is creepy I suppose, unless you realize as I did that the one following you around has been there not to cause you harm, but to watch over you in your every move. Grace is her name, as I finally discovered, and she has managed to station herself nearby my entire life in every place I have ever been, and everything I have ever done, bad or good, wise or foolish.
I was well along in life before it occurred to me about Grace’s presence, but I realize it now, like the time my Dad backed over me in his car. I was only five-years-old at the time out playing in the front yard of our home when a toy I was playing with rolled across the street. I ran across to retrieve it and just as I approached our driveway on the return trip my Dad happened to be backing out in his car unaware of my proximity. The car did strike me, except my older brother who was nearby came running out screaming, “Daddy stop! Daddy stop!” which he did, just in time to prevent me from being run over. Grace saved me that day – also my Dad! – using my big brother as her instrument.
Grace has always been there for me, not just to save me from danger or my own foolishness (and there’s been plenty of that), but she has also been there to bless me in many ways, like the time she used Tee’s friend Donna as her instrument in arranging for us to meet on a blind date that quickly evolved into a fifty-four year love affair, a beautiful family of children and grandchildren, and a blessed and prosperous life.
I’ve just been lucky, you might say, and you would be right. So, why hasn’t Grace shown up for the less fortunate like she has for us? Because Grace seldom works alone, but invites others in to be her instruments, like my older brother was in my own story, and Tee’s friend Donna. So, in the case of the less fortunate, it is not because Grace is not watching over them too, she simply needs more instruments. For “to each one of us grace has been given,” and for those of us who have received it opportunities abound to multiply it by sharing that grace with others. Amazing how Grace works.