Recently I went to visit a friend of mine and while visiting, he asked me if I wanted to go see his brother play Little League Baseball that afternoon. I said, sure. So we made our way over to the fields. His little brother was a pitcher and supposedly he was pretty good. But it quickly became evident that today was not his day.
He was the first pitcher on the mound. And he was giving up hit after hit, which quickly became run after run. I mean, it was hard to watch. Finally, after eight runs, his coach took him outta the game. You could visibly see how upset he was, but then something interesting happened. At the beginning of the next inning, clouds totally filled the sky and it started to pour, not the kind of sprinkle rain you can wait to pass.
I’m talking torrential downpour, thunder lightning. It was a terrible storm. And just as all of this was happening, the umpires huddled together and decided to call off the game. And just like that, those eight runs he had given up were wiped off the record books. It was like they had never happened. They were gone.
Their rain had washed the record clean. Now, to me, this is the picture of God’s love and grace. We go through life with the best of intentions, and by all accounts we’re pretty good, but we just keep making a mess of it. And we are riddled with the guilt of the decisions we made. And maybe that’s just a few small mistakes, or maybe it’s years of bad decisions.
But just like that, the rain comes and washes it all away
when we experience God’s love. We realize the slate has been wiped clean. No one is keeping track but us today. I’m thankful for the grace of God that reigns upon our lives. You’ve been listening to Everyday Miracles by Hope, mindfulness, and Prayer.
In the year 1818, a 26-year-old Catholic priest by the name of Joseph Moore was preparing for the Christmas Eve service at his church in the Austrian Alps. And while cleaning up the church in preparation, he found out that his organ had broken. This was not good. I mean, here’s this young guy that is probably new to this church.
If you’ve ever gone through art history class, you’re probably familiar with a painting called The Light of the World. It was painted by the British artist Holman Hunt, and hangs in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It’s one of the most iconic religious paintings in history. The painting depicts Jesus standing outside of a small, dilapidated cottage.
I was recently listening to the U2 album, all that you Can’t Leave Behind, and I came across a song called Grace. The lyrics say this, grace takes the blame, covers the shame, removes the stain, but once was hurt, but once was friction. What left a mark? No longer stings because grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
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