I would much rather be the one bringing the casserole than the one receiving it.
Not because I’m ungrateful but because I’m uncomfortable.
It is humbling to have to depend on other people. It’s hard to admit I can’t manage on my own. It’s downright humiliating to need help with daily tasks that used to come easy.
But truth is, I cannot make it alone.
Not now and really, not before-although I had kept up a pretty good front for decades.
While it is hard and humbling and sometimes humiliating, it’s healthy to admit when I’ve reached the end of my own reserves.
Because we were made for relationship.
Helping one another is how human hearts connect and grow together. It’s how we experience grace.
And there’s more than enough grace to go around.
Remember studying the water cycle in elementary school? A great big circle-from the ocean to the sky raining down on the dry land and running back to the ocean. Plenty of water to go around.
Never actually being used up, just rearranged and reapportioned.
Grace is like that. It passes from one heart to the next to the next. Rearranged and reapportioned but never used up.
When I give, that’s wonderful. That’s easy (for me) because it makes me feel like I’m in control, on top, doing my part.
When I receive, that’s a little harder. Because I feel like maybe I’m not trying hard enough, not working diligently enough, not contributing my share.
But that’s a lie.
Because ultimately ALL grace flows from God through Christ.
When I give, I’m giving out of the abundance He has showered on me. When I receive, I am receiving out of the abundance He has showered on someone else.
In the end, it’s all God.
If I refuse the grace He offers through others, I’m refusing HIM.
Not them.
I need to remember that.
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