My friend Doug knows what it means to be a good neighbor. He came over at 9:00 a couple nights ago to help me install a new dishwasher. We got a late start because we’d each had very long workdays.
The installation didn’t follow the script (Do they ever, I wonder?). It was impossible to discern which breaker the electrical was wired to so we turned them all off. Of course, that meant doing much of the job by flashlight.
The not-so-helpful instructions estimated the job should take between one and three hours. Doug left our house at 1:00 in the morning. He was still smiling. Perhaps even morestriking was the utter absence of profanity! That’s a good neighbor. In fact, for those four hours at least, I’d say Doug’s neighborliness bordered on the saintly.
Grace arrives in many forms. I’ve found though, that it usually involves a palpably personal and relational element. Grace usually entails somebody choosing to be available as its conduit.
Scott Burnett
3 comments:
Great Scott! I often speak of Grace as being inseparable to a person's being, so that we cannot say that God gives us Grace (as though it could be sent out in the Divine mail), but Grace is God being present. Grace is a way of being present to another. Doug was the embodiment of God's grace which smiles and meets us where we make out needs visible.
Marty
Thanks, Marty -- this is absolutely right. And it is a good reminder that we (humans) live in an unfolding series of grace-opportunities... both to extend and to embrace.
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