Toddler Moments

Yesterday was a day of high motion and emotion. My husband, daughter and two granddaughters, and I went to church in the morning and to a friend's wedding and reception in the evening. And did I mention it was 200 miles to these events? We were gone from six in the morning till 1:30 a.m. that night. There were a couple of near meltdowns toward the end by Dean and one of the OTHER toddlers with us, but nothing major.

(In the meantime my nephew and son-in-law stayed home to install a toilet for us, which turned out to be a rather disgusting affair with several trips to the hardware store. I think they planned it that way to avoid the trip with us though--those cowards!)

Curiously enough, the biggest meltdown occurred today right here at home and the main characters were my daughter and I. Could it have been the raw nerves we were running on yesterday? I think that certainly played a part in the "blowup". When we are weak, Satan comes on strong! We should take instructions from Dean on how to have these "blowups" though. He never stays mad very long. Partly because he can't remember what he was mad about in the first place.

I, for one, have put it behind me, as much as I regret losing my sanity there for a minute. And I hope my daughter forgives me as well. I'm ready to let God's grace cover our ungraceful moments. Thank you, Lord, for having short-term memory and forgiving us so graciously every time we mess up. We're all "toddlers" at times after all, aren't we?

The Price of Grace--It Isn't Cheap

Two things stood out for me in my Bible study this morning. First of all, that  there are two kinds of "cheap grace". We ruin the gospel of grace when we think we can add to it by our works, or when we think we can use it as an excuse to sin. I had never thought of legalism as another form of "cheap grace". But the legalist is saying, in essence, that grace is insufficient to save him.

Also it was pointed out to me that Jesus' sufferings were mainly not of a physical nature, although we know the crucifix was a tortuous form of execution. "...with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father's reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Savior in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt." The Desire of Ages, p. 753.

No portrayal of the Passion story is adequate to convey the extreme mental suffering and guilt that He bore on that cross. The movie screen or the stage doesn't come close to conveying the whole story. The Bible is God's movie script, and the scenes it evokes in our mind are all we need to assimilate the gospel lessons that are taught there. Thank you, Jesus, for The Book.