Grace

This morning we got up to below freezing temperatures and icicles hanging everywhere.  I went down to feed the lambs and the horses.  When I fed the lambs, I got mad.  One of my pet peeves is people who don’t take care of their animals.  They are a responsibility; if you own them…they are YOUR responsibility.  Especially if you’re like me and have just a couple of small traps for the horses, we have a responsibility to make sure they are fed and watered.  Same goes for my daughter’s lambs, they are locked up in a stall so they have to be fed and watered.  Especially the lambs, they’re not the smartest of Gods creations.  But when I fed this morning, they had little to no water.  I knew that she did not fill the buckets last night.

This posed a problem for me, since everything was frozen; my hoses were all frozen too.  So off I go with a bucket to fill, at the house.  All the way there I was thinking about all of the things I was going to do to punish her.  I went from a spanking, to grounding, to extra chores and back again.  Like I said, I was mad.  I got to the house and luckily my beautiful bride was there to rein me in a little.  We decided I would not talk to her while I was mad.  I headed back to the barn muttering about how we were going to get rid of those lambs and not have them again.  I how big and bad her punishment was going to be.

Thankfully, I did get convicted by the Spirit to talk to God too.  I was praying for a calmed mind, still hanging on to the fact that I was mad at her.  Still wanting to punish her for her wrongdoing, this wasn’t the first time and she was now out of second chances…

Then God grabbed a hold of me.

He said, “what about you, do you deserve a second chance?” 

I was convicted of my hypocrisy.  Here I was passing judgment; not offering to my daughter what was so easily given to me…grace.  How could I be mad her for a mistake that she made, when Christ never even hesitated when He went to the cross for my self-righteous anger?  I was, and am, ashamed of myself for that.  I have made the same mistakes over and over and over again, but God…still loves me.

I went back to the house and talked with her about the importance taking care of these animals that God has given us.  We also talked about grace and what it means.  I think she already understood it, but I think we all need a reminder.  Grace is more than mercy, grace is more than forgiveness.  Grace is a divine love that brought Christ down here to pay for my sins.  If Jesus loved me enough to forgive what I have done…then shouldn’t I be able to offer the same to my daughter?  I love my daughters like no other, so we will talk again about our responsibilities...but this morning was a lesson in grace.  For me and I hope for her.