When I was a kid, one of my favorite outdoor activities was jumping rope. I would run as fast as I could to the playground with these amazing jump ropes in hand. They weren’t really ropes, but rather a long nylon string covered in cylindrical, plastic tube-shaped beads. They made a satisfying swoosh, swoosh sound when you used them. They were especially fun to play with a group; two people were the turners and everyone else took turns as jumpers. If you didn’t miss, you got to keep on jumping. If you did miss, the first thing you would ask, “Can I have a do-over?” You really hoped that your friends forgave the missed jump and let you go again. Having a “do-over” meant a second chance, an opportunity to keep on playing. It felt good to try again.
We all like a chance to try again. Even as adults, we like the opportunity to do something again and to not be judged for that one moment when we weren’t at our best. That’s what grace is really, being given favor even when we weren’t at our best, or maybe when we were at our very worst.
Biblical grace means “unmerited favor” – the idea of getting blessings we don’t deserve. Society teaches us, even encourages us, to give people what we feel they deserve based on our relationship with them. If we are wronged, we want to return the favor. If we are cut off in traffic, we want to yell at the person, honk our horn and shake our fist. If someone fails to complete an assignment or doesn’t stay to help clean up after an event, we might feel the need to call them out publicly, talk bad about them, or punish them with a more difficult assignment.
One of the principles we try to practice at work is to operate every day with a lot of grace. It seems that working in a church environment, leading with grace would be easy, perhaps even assumed. The truth is, it is hard no matter where you work. Our natural reaction is often “that’s just not right” and then we immediately think what our response should be to make ourselves feel better. Lately, I have been trying to think about the idea of grace and simply equating it with that simple childhood jump rope game and how we all want another chance when we mess up. I try to apply that to encounters with co-workers, friends, and family.
God knows that we will have many missteps in life; some are small, some will be huge. God gives us grace for all our mistakes – through him we can live a full and abundant life. We don’t deserve grace, it is not owed to us, but it is freely given. He is our example of giving grace; let’s all strive to give everyone a chance for a “do-over.”
Lori Hall, Director of Missions
