Did he get any on me?

I’ve debated the use of the following analogy all day (arguing with yourself is tiring), but if you’re reading it, then I must have decided to post it, so buckle your seat belts. This one’s kind of gross.

A few years back, we were driving down Route 60. We knew G wasn’t feeling top notch, but we really didn’t know that he felt as bad as he did. All of a sudden we hear from the back seat, “I’m going to be sick.” Every parent’s ickiest nightmare – a child sick in the car. S pulls over, trying to make it to Go Mart and the men’s restroom. Needless to say, we didn’t make it. Poor G was sick – everywhere. All over inside of the car. S pulls over, and we try to start “clean up and recovery” of child, seat, backpack, floor…. S is working hard, trying to no be sick himself, when he looks at me, and says, “Did he get any on me?”

I still remember to this day that S was wearing a navy blue sport coat. G, unintentionally, had seemed to aim for his father’s shoulder, and the entire back of that sport covered was covered. “Did he get any on me?”

“Oh, honey – everywhere.”

God reigns grace down on us all the time, and sometimes I think we walk around covered in it, but completely unaware of it. (Please don’t leave me comments telling me that I shouldn’t compare grace to vomit – I know the analogy has huge limitations, but stick with me).

Why is it that we are unaware of God’s presence in our lives? Of God’s grace working through us? Of God’s love for us when it is all over us, covering us. Why isn’t it obvious to us?

I don’t know the answer, but here are a more questions:

1. We sometimes (I sometimes) have a very poor opinion of our talents and gifts. We don’t think that what we offer can possibly be good enough, can actually impact other people’s lives, could in any way be used by God as a tool to further His purposes. Why is it that we feel that way when God has given us our gifts in the first place? Do we think God’s gifts come from Big Lots? Are they “seconds?” Why is it that we sometimes think that what we have been given isn’t “good enough?”
2. Fred Rogers had a theory that the space between himself and the person he was trying to reach was “Holy Ground.” He believed that God would take the best we could offer and would transform it to meet the needs of His children. Do we (I) sometimes forget that God is active in the space between us? I’ve mentioned before the Prayer Vigil at our church during Lent this year. As that project was starting to get off the ground, I had real doubts that it would be successful – that it would move at all beyond mediocre. I wondered if there would be anyone interested in participating at all. I prayed that it would work. I tried to give it my best effort, and I know that other people in our church did the same. Why am I surprised that it DID work? Why did I forget that God works in the spaces between us to transform what is offered into what is needed?
3. Are we so busy sometimes that we miss God? Are we so caught up in the details of our religion that we miss the object of our faith? When you read through the prophets of the Old Testament, I think you can’t help but come away with feeling that God was FRUSTRATED with his creation. I got the feeling that God was standing in the midst of His people, yelling, “If you would just listen! If you would only focus on me, you’ll notice that I’m standing right here with you!” We can loose our God-focus sometimes in the midst of scheduling volunteers, choosing just the right color of paint, arguing with each other, and complaining about the condition of the bathrooms. All of these items need to be given attention, but must that attention be paid at the cost of our ability to know that God is with us?
4. Do we have so poor of an opinion of ourselves that we doubt that God would choose to work through us at all? I think God is the one who came up with the idea of the Prayer Vigil, and then pushed me to get it started. Why did it take me so long to believe that God would be interested enough in me, or trust me enough to try to work through me to do His will? Do we all feel that way sometimes?

Isn’t it sad sometimes to think that we are standing in the downpour of God’s grace, and we’re missing it? We’re not trying to avoid it, but we are instead completely unaware that we are getting wet at all?

Aside: Thanks to Locusts and Honey for choosing the He Needs to be Closer post as the Best of the Methodist Blogosphere last week. I mention it because – well – it is exciting for me and also because I doubted that the post was going to speak to anyone but me. It was special to me because it was inspired by Chuck…see, perfect example of what I am talking about in this post – me doubting that God will be working in the spaces between us.