Grace & Mercy!

Our older son married a precious young single mom with two little girls, ages six and two, when they first met.  After several months of dating, our son orchestrated a meeting for all of us.  Not particularly nurturing by nature, I learned two very valuable truths from those little girls:  Though completely unfamiliar with little girls and all of their drama, I could be drawn into their irresistible capacity to love.  In addition, I was ready to be a grandmother, able to love other than our own two sons.

As our son and the girls’ mom continued dating, praying through their future, I made a discovery.  Regardless of whether they married or not, I was keeping the two girls.  I had fallen in love with them.  The younger of the two was small enough to crawl up in my lap as I sat in the rocking chair, and she would snuggle into my shoulder until she fell asleep.  I completely and totally melted, as I learned that God could expand my heart to love little ones who didn’t even belong to me.

After about six months, I asked permission to put Lexi, the younger girl, in our church’s preschool program, at our expense, while her mom was working.  I was available to take her to school and to daycare following the program.  Her mom, graciously, allowed both our church and me the privilege of being a part of Lexi’s life on a daily basis.  She loved going to her own school, like her big sister, and she soon felt at home roaming the halls of such a large church as we left to go to her daycare.  Occasionally, I would wonder if this precious little girl was learning any of the truths that would help her in life, especially as I tried to figure out how to pay that month’s tuition. 

However, several years later, after Scott and Melissa married, God demonstrated His faithfulness through a verse which is an anchor to my soul.  In Isaiah 55:11, God says that His word will never return void.  It will accomplish the thing He has purposed it to do – even in the life of a little preschooler.  In Matthew 7:24-27, the Lord Jesus exhorts us to build our lives and everything about them on the Word of God, from the basis for our salvation to the details of our daily walk.  Only that which is founded in the Truth of God’s Word can stand the storms of life.  Even when we are not sure of how to stand, God’s Word reminds us to cry out to our Heavenly Father.

Scott and his family were at our house, when I heard him give Lexi a warning about her behavior.  He was calm and very clear, explaining to her that He would have to discipline her if she disobeyed, again.  Testing his resolve, it was not long until she, once more, disobeyed him.  He took her by the hand, leading her to the back of the house, explaining to her that she had disobeyed.  She began to cry, heartbreakingly, saying, “But, Daddy, I thought you was my bestest friend.”  He, very patiently, explained, again, her disobedience and that consequences follow disobedience.  Her tears escalated and her cries grew louder and louder, though they were still only walking to the other room.  Suddenly, I heard her, yelling at the top of her lungs, “Wait, Daddy, wait Daddy. I have to ask you something!!”  Again, Scott, calmly asked, “What is it, Lexi?  What is it you have to ask me?”

Suddenly, I heard her cry out that which I knew could only come from having been taught from the Word of God, something that she grasped even in her very young soul – a cry for that which she knew she did not deserve and to avoid that which she knew she did deserve.

“Grace and mercy!!!  Daddy, give me grace and mercy, please!”

From the mouth of a four year old, I heard the words of I Timothy 1:2, one of those anchors for the soul, not particularly eloquent, but so effective.  We, too, can cry out to our Heavenly Father, even in the midst of our world crashing down around us, “Grace and mercy, Father; grace and mercy.”

Do I need to tell you that a loving father, on that day, was longsuffering to a four year old who did, indeed, find grace and mercy?

© 2010 Gerry Sisk

(03/24/10)