True Grace

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My friend, Heather, often talks about how God works in “themes” in her life.  There are times when we’ve spoken about a string of events, books, messages, etc. and they all have the same point, whatever the point is.

Last week, I felt that “point” to be extending grace beyond the surface.   A blog about grace, words to a praise song, verses God brought to my attention; they all screamed at me “Here’s your theme for the week.”

And yet, I missed it.  Oh, I recognized the point God was making.  But when I had the opportunity to utilize it, I failed.

A man had parked his truck on our court in a manner that wasn’t especially conducive to the street.  When I backed out of the driveway, I saw him walking (uniformed professional matching his truck.)    While he was parked at least 5 feet from the curb, and another vehicle was parked on the opposite side of the street, I wasn’t comfortable attempting to squeeze through and so I patiently waited for him to get into his truck.

Only he didn’t get into his truck.  When he reached my van, he waved me through, with a look that said he didn’t approve of my wait.  When I shook my head no, he threw his hands in the air and yelled, “What?! You can’t drive?!”   At this point, I was astonished.  I had patiently waited for him walking.  He was on my street.  He was the one at fault for parking so far from the curb….yet he obviously didn’t approve of my waiting, which he didn’t deem as necessary.  As he pulled away and I saw the question on the back of his truck, “How’s my driving?” with the company’s phone number, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number explaining what happened.  In the heat of the moment, I felt very justified.

BUT, as soon as I hung up, I felt convicted.  The Holy Spirit whispered, “Your grace dried up pretty quickly back there.”

What?

“Wonder what kind of day that man was having?

…Thought you were thinking of extending grace BEYOND the circumstance.”

The beauty of this situation is that God’s grace reaches out to that man beyond me.   However, I was afforded the opportunity to shine as part of His grace …

and I missed out.

What happened the last time you were afforded the opportunity to extend grace beyond the circumstance?