A Gift of Grace

Over the holidays our oldest granddaughter was overcome with the losing spirit. She wore her mother’s expensive one of a kind antique necklace out to the mall and lost it while trying on clothes. She and her mother retraced their steps and asked store managers if anyone had turned it in but they never found it. Not only did she lose the necklace, but my wife and I had given her $50 for Christmas and she lost it.  We searched the vehicles, the house, looked in her shoes and clothes but could not find it.  We were assured that she had lost it at the mall. She had a great attitude about it though. She said “well someone got blessed whoever found it may have needed it more than me.” We felt for her so before the week was out I pulled her aside slipped another $50 dollar bill in her hand and said, “Now don’t lose this one.”  She reluctantly took it and said “Thanks Papaw.”  However, I made one mistake, I said, “if you find the other one you can     keep both.”  What was I thinking? Sure enough on the last day as she was packing to go home, she looked underneath the mattress and there it was. I told my daughter, “Now we know who got the blessing.”   The reason I gave the second time was because I loved her and had more to give. My resources were much greater than hers. When you think about it God’s grace is like that. He replaces our stuff because he loves us and has more resources than we do. He has more forgiveness than we have sin, more peace than we have problems, and more care than our carelessness. Because of this He is always slipping into our hand another gift—a gift of grace.