Grace for Today

Gretchen Smith

MSW, LISW, CP

Unexpected events take us by surprise (although not God, He knows what is coming!) and allow us to show God’s grace to others.  Case in point -  my husband and I had a new shower installed last Thursday.  The old one had a crack in the floor, which had been glued once, we didn’t want to chance it holding another glue job, and we saw the possibility of a leak onto our kitchen table, so we decided to go forward with a new shower.  We even paid for the installation! Typically, we are DIYers because my husband is very clever and can do many things!  The shower was installed and was lovely.  Nothing fancy, but clean and white.  We waited OVER the 24 obligatory hours to try it out for the first time.  I went first - it was lovely.  Then it was my husband’s turn.  I dressed and went downstairs.  As I descended the steps, I heard some pitter-patter and thought, “Is it raining?”  Oh no!  I rounded the corner to see a waterfall in our kitchen! We never asked for an indoor water feature - but there it was!  So much for avoiding a leak!!!  I yelled for my husband, who immediately turned off the shower and came downstairs.  Long story short, after a plumber visited and a four-foot hole was cut in our ceiling, we found the cause - a pipe had come loose, and there was a 3-inch gap from line to pipe where water had been pouring out.  I am still in shock.  The thing is, my husband just kept repeating the word “grace.”  Mistakes are made - we have to show grace.

Doesn’t God do the same for us every single day?  We make mistakes; we repent, and He shows us grace.  The refrain from the old hymn “Grace Greater Than All My Sin’ by Julia H. Johnson (1910) keeps playing over in my mind:

“Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; 

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is great than all our sin.”

I hope you feel His grace today, and I hope you share that grace with others.