 Meditation:
One day (in the comic strip) Dennis the Menace and his friend Joey are pictured leaving Mrs. Wilson’s house with arms full of cookies and they are happy and smiling. Joey says: “I wonder what we did to deserve this?” Dennis the Menace answers: “Look, Joey. Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies NOT because we are nice, but because she is nice.”
GRACE - that love given freely to us for which we have done nothing to deserve - always comes because of the greatness of the Giver.
I thank God that God never ever gives up on us - that God is continually calling out to all of us -
- whether we are the ones who are wandering all alone and deceiving ourselves thinking that we can “do it on our own”; lost, but not knowing that we are lost; straying away from God, turning our backs on that unconditional love; grabbing the inheritance and wasting it on “things that do not satisfy”; falling into despair when we finally realize we cannot do it on our own.
- OR whether we are the ones who work so hard to be good; try so hard to follow the rules and expectations; and who get angry when we think we have been left out of the party; get angry and withdraw when we don’t get what we think we deserve.
YES, God is continually calling out to the likes of you and me - whether we are the older son or the younger son.
God - the GREAT Giver - sent his Son Jesus to be one of us and Jesus IS THE WAY HOME - for all of us lost children wherever we are.
Jesus welcomes us all; he runs to us; he grabs us and hugs us and holds on to us; he feeds us and he welcomes us home; AND he welcomes us to the celebration that has already been prepared for us. |
