Wasteful Grace

 

Gloriously wasteful, O my Lord, art thou!

Sunset faints after sunset into the night,

Splendorously dying from thy window-sill—

 

—George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul

 

“From [Jesus’] fullness we have all received, grace in exchange for grace” (John 1:16)

 

“David, quick, come look,” Carolyn calls from the kitchen. I trundle in to see why she’s so excited. 

 

Our kitchen window faces west and Carolyn is gazing through it at a spectacular Idaho sunset. Orange, red, gray, purple and colors I have no name for, splashed across the horizon in kaleidoscopic display. God with his paint pots and brushes, at it again. 

 

“Hurry,” Carolyn says, “get the camera,” but by the time I find my iPhone (which is never where I put it) the sunset has faded away, “splendorously dying” from God’s window-sill, a one time show of extravagant beauty, never to be repeated, but matched by the next peerless, made-to order-display.

 

God’s grace is like his sunsets: uniquely drawn up for each particular day. I wonder, then, what once-in-a-lifetime display of goodness God has in mind for you and me this day? 

 

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

 

David H. Roper

3.3.21