[grace + mercy]

If you don't know me, let me give a brief introduction of who I am. I'm a college senior studying ministry and music, I attend Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA) but I live in Puyallup which is about 45 minutes south as the crow flies (meaning about an 1.5 commute one way). I'm involved in my church (as a Sunday school teacher, a part of the worship team, and in random other stuff), I am dating my best friend, I live with my family, I love going to coffee and being in relationship with those young women around me, and spend way too much time on Pinterest. Enough about me. But I wanted to give you a context out of which I am writing this.

One of the biggest things that I struggle with is learning to find margin in my life. I tend to have a thought process that I can do it all. Which means that obviously I could choose to only get 4 or less hours of sleep a night for multiple weeks in a row and there will be no fall-out what-so-ever (ask my family or Joe and you will learn that is definitely not true). When I moved home for my final year of my undergraduate, I was faced with the seemingly difficult task of not running myself into the ground. And if I'm honest, I haven't quite mastered it yet. But as I begin to look at the rest of my life and what I feel that God is calling me to do with it, I need to learn how to build margin into my life. Not only is it biblical due to the fact that it is a part of keeping my body in healthy shape (physically), Jesus sets multiple examples for us as He would take time away from everyone to rest and pray. If Jesus couldn't run 24/7, then why in the world do I think that I am capable of it?

Now I do understand that some people can handle more than others. I know many, many, people who can handle more than I can. But I also know people who can handle less. I think the important part is learning to completely understand what you can handle, and then how to live within those physical limitations in order to produce the most fruit through your life.

I want to look at the story of the prodigal son. It's a Sunday School favorite and pretty familiar to just about everyone, Christian or not. Basic plotline: a rebellious and disobedient son demands his inheritance from his father, and then leaves home with the inheritance. After squandering all of the money, he is forced to return home unless he wants to die and so he returns attempting to beg his father to employ him as a servant. Yet here is where the unexpected happens. The father welcomes the lost son with open arms, and throws him a party (much to the dismay of the older brother). This story is usually used to show us how Christ welcomes us with open arms when we repent our sin to Him, and how we always have a home in Christ's family. It is a picture of the mercy of God, and His unfailing and never-ending love.

Here's what Luke writes about the prodigal son:

"And he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So we went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, 

and no one gave him anything.'"

                                                                                                                          - Luke 15:11-16

The part that I want to focus on is this: "And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need".

I don't know if you had ever even noticed that before, but I hadn't. In fact I was reading this passage for a class assignment and read over that and was like "wait, WHAT?" The fact that Luke writes about a famine almost makes it seem like the son would have been okay had it not been for a famine. Which I find pretty parable-shaking. I mean, this takes a bit of the responsibility out of it, I do admit. But let's look at this.

I am not condoning the squandering of inheritances, or really anything that God has blessed you with. If you squander a gift from God, it's stupid. As plain as day, that's stupid. We are called to be stewardesses of what God has blessed us with, whether that be talent or money or children or what-have-you. We are called to use it all for His glory, so I still agree with the common interpretation of this parable. But I want to look at two other lessons that can be learned from this passage.

The first has to do with margin. If the son had had any form of margin in his life, the famine would not have affected him like it did. It wasn't until the famine appeared that he began to be in need. The way the parable is written, while he had no money, he seemed to be surviving just fine until the unexpected happened. I feel like this is the same in my life. I am doing okay, I can manage on 4 hours of sleep and doing assignments the day before they are due, until the unexpected happens: I get sick, my computer quits working, a friend desperately needs my help, my car breaks down, etc. Often times, the places we see God the most are these moments that He throws at us. Life happens in the little things. But when I am so stressed out because I have allowed no room for err in my life, and so I'm worried about not getting enough sleep or not getting my assignment done, I can't enjoy these little moments. I feel as if I have deeply missed some of God's greatest moments in my life because I simply can't slow down enough to see them. This is the only life we have on this earth, so why do we see the need to make it so packed and busy that we can't just stop and smell the roses?

The second lesson I want to pull from this passage is that about grace. First, let's define grace vs. mercy. Grace is getting something for which I've done absolutely nothing to deserve, and mercy is not receiving something that I completely deserve. Often, the parable of the prodigal son is seen in terms of mercy. And I want to look at it through grace. Once the unexpected hit, and the son was forced to return home and admit his silliness, he is still welcomed with open arms. His father could have been like "eh, you screwed up kid", even though most of the blame still lay with the son (though not as much, I believe, as is commonly thought), and just left him alone. Yet the father gives him something the son has done nothing to deserve. He opens His arms and loves him and welcomes him. The son has done nothing to deserve this greeting, yet because of the Father's grace, the son has received it anyways. When I have screwed up and I come humbly before the Father and repent, I receive mercy. Yet even when something happens that I wasn't expecting, so the blame doesn't completely lay on me, yet I come before Him asking Him to help he still provides me with that I don't deserve, so I receive grace. He seeks me out, He pursues, He always provides for my needs.

So how does this apply to real life? I am reminded of the importance of providing both grace and mercy to those around me. I have found that I get easily frustrated with relationships, often because I can't make heads nor tails of them and so my instinct is to get frustrated. But people are dealing with things, sometimes things they can control and sometimes things they cannot. But we are called to love. We are called to forgive. We are called to extend both grace and mercy, just as the Father has extended both grace and mercy to us. When we build margin into our lives, we are much more free to see how others are struggling because we are more others-focused and less self-focused.

Extend well. Love well. Leave room for God to throw things at you. But above all, rest in His glorious and abounding grace and mercy, and remember all that He has done in your life.