Chaplain’s Corner – Pay It Forward

I am a product of grace and mercy. Of course, I am a product of the grace of Jesus Christ; however, that’s not what I mean. I mean that I am the product of the grace shown to me by many individuals during my life.

The first example that comes to mind is from an old photograph. I don’t remember this, but I don’t doubt that it happened.  It shows me about the age of three, all dressed up and sitting on the arm of my grandmother’s couch. I am holding a kid’s toy workbench. My grandmother is smiling and reaching out to me, and I have a very grumpy look on my face that clearly says, “Leave me and my workbench alone!” (I remember this now whenever I experience something like this from any of my grandchildren.) Now I was my grandmother’s favorite (at least that is the testimony of my cousin). I know my grandmother loved me all my life, but she had ten grandchildren and she could have easily withheld her favor toward me because of the way I treated her. Thankfully, she did not.

Okay you say, you were just a small child. You didn’t know any better. Well, what about when I was about thirteen and went to a slumber party. I was thrilled to be invited. However, I suffered a bit from low esteem and jealousy, and I must say looking back that I “showed myself” at the party (this is really embarrassing to admit). The person who invited me is a good friend to this day, and I am grateful that she and her mother were so kind to me then, and now, showing grace and understanding rather than calling my parents. To this day, I consider this friend to be one of the kindest people I know.

I could go on and on with these confessions, but I’ll recall just one more. When I graduated from college, I thought that I was hot stuff. I had my diploma and thought I knew more than anyone and should therefore be able to get a big job and immediately make the big bucks. Well, that didn’t happen. My boss was an older woman with a high school education. She was an excellent manager, but I chafed under her direction and didn’t make a secret of it, either. She was, without exception, kind, helpful, and always saw the best in me and communicated a vision of what she thought I could be rather than what I so often displayed. It took me awhile, but I gradually began to live up to her vision of me. I admire her to this day and strive to be like her.

I know (hope) you are surprised by these confessions. I have mellowed and matured over the years, and just wish it hadn’t taken me as long as it did. It helps me to look back and remember all the people who poured into my life—family, friends, pastors, teachers, bosses. Of course, I have the other kind of examples in my life, too, and I have learned from them as well, but they are not who I model my life after. I sincerely hope that you can remember some of those good role models in your life who loved you and showed grace and mercy to you even when you didn’t deserve it.

This brings me to today. One of the joys I have as Chaplain is hearing your stories of interactions with guests and program participants. I love to hear how you overcome challenging situations with grace, how you deal with the most difficult clients by showing them love and mercy. I have so much admiration for you when I see how you patiently work with a man who is ravaged by his past, helping him to gain identity and the means to become a productive citizen. You may be the only Jesus he has ever seen. I am overwhelmed with joy when I hear about how you work with a fearful and destitute mother and her children to help with not only their immediate needs for food and shelter, but her longer term needs for sobriety and resources for healthy living. This is the church as Jesus meant for her to be.

I am reading the book by Bob Goff that Glenn gave us for Christmas, Everybody, Always:  Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People. He shares amazing stories of “becoming love.” In it, he says, “People don’t need information, they want examples. God wants to use people like us to show the world what we know about Jesus by having them see the way we love people around us. Particularly the difficult ones.” He goes on to say, “When we draw a circle around the whole world like grace did and say everybody is in, God’s love gives us a bigger identity than we used to have. With our newer, bigger identities, we can draw even bigger circles around people’s lives. We start to see that our time here isn’t meant to be spent forming opinions about the people we meet. It’s an opportunity to draw the kinds of circles around them that grace has drawn around us, until everybody is on the inside….God never promised we’d have all the answers. What He offers to us is a box of crayons and the opportunity to let love draw bigger circles around the people we meet than they thought were possible.”

I believe I am the product of people in my life drawing circles of grace around me, and I hope that I can pay it forward. I pray that you will be encouraged as you minister to those around us and that your circle will be increasingly enlarged as you become the love of Jesus to each and every man, woman, and child who seeks refuge and rescue at Nashville Rescue Mission. Please continue to share your stories with me.

In Christ,

Judy

P.S.: I highly recommend reading the book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People. I also recommend the movie, Pay It Forward.