Michelle and I stood beneath a narrow covered passage way with classrooms to our left and right. With crafts in our hands we awaited word that our classrooms were ready for us. Suddenly the children poured out of their rooms and a crowd grew around Michelle. Now surrounded by kids, she stood there at a loss wondering what this was all about.
After a moment one boy reached up and pulling her head to his, gave her a kiss on the cheek. Another followed with a hug and before long she was lost in a sea of hugging and kissing. I watched in awe.
She looked up from her hugs and caught me with a glance that said, “I don’t deserve this.” I nodded in agreement. I watched her being bathed in love only guessing at the healing it would bring.
She is right. None of us deserved that kind of love and adoration. In our own minds alone we could think of many reasons we were not worthy. But such is the nature of grace, to take the unworthy and show to them kindness undeserved. Demonstrating what to our own mind seems absurd. That we can be love not for what we do or have to offer, but for simply being. We, the unlovable, the unreachable, the less than pretty— are loved none the less.
What Michelle meant to say was, “I haven’t done anything to deserve this.” It’s true. We had yet to do anything for these kids, but they were willing to pour out affection and adoration in a manner befitting a loved one.
If for you God’s love has been a hard concept know that you are not alone. It is hard for a lot of us to grasp. Michelle’s eyes spoke it. If for you feeling loved has been a struggle know that you are not alone. Each of us battles this demon on a regular basis. If you do not KNOW you are loved, I have a place you need to visit, but if you never get there, take this with you.
Grace has yet to meet the unlovable or the unreachable.
Grace has yet to choose the beautiful over the homely
simply because they are beautiful.
No, grace loves the unlovable,
reaches the unreachable
and dresses the homely in His own beautiful robes.
Grace is proud to be seen with the outcast.
Perhaps it is not apparent to you but—God loves you.
You need only read John 3:16 to know this.
When I looked again Michelle was crying. This was Monday the third day of our 9 days there. That evening when I told the story, the team cried. Michelle will read this and probably cry to remember. Now, will you remember, grace is never given to the worthy, grace imparts worth. A lesson only love can teach and only in this—life’s classroom.
Copyright(C)1998 Hudson Russell Davis