His Grace, My Weakness, and a Whole Lot of Sand

I watch as he swaggers over and in a brawny voice says, “Need some help diggin’ that hole?”

I had escaped to the beach for a few precious hours with my girls.  My big girl was completely enthralled in digging a large hole and instructing her little sister to fill it with water. 

  I could have sworn he was wearing chaps and a Stetson, but after blinking my eyes a few times, I realize it is just a pair of Cars swim trunks and a whole lot of sand.

As he approaches, amazingly, my usually bashful little girl looks up at him, grins, and scoots over for him to start digging.  The 'damsel in distress' act continues as he scoots in showing off his digging skills.  At some point, he decides to take his macho display to the next level by punching the barrier they have created around the hole to expose the weak places.  For a moment, my girls stop and hold their breath.  Unfortunately for him, the barriers holds strong, he comes down a few notches and resorts back to digging.

 This goes on for a while and whenever an awkward silence falls, little sister is there to coach them through it with all the charm of Chuck Woolery (the host of Love Connection, for those of you who were babies in the ‘80’s) with comments like:

“Her name is Claire and she enjoys reading, writing in her journal, and playing with Lego Friends. Now, how ‘bout you tell us your name?”

They move to the water and as he swims beyond the water- level boundary that I have set for them. I am pleasantly surprised that they hold back and stay within the no-deeper-than-you-belly button limit. As they watch him swim away, my big girl runs back up to me on the beach and exclaims “ Mom, I think he likes me, like L-O-V-E!”.  She then runs back to join him, as he makes his way back within their boundaries.

 Eventually, “Chuck” makes her way back to the shore, satisfied that she has made an adequate ‘love connection’ and wistfully sighs, saying “Look at those two - so happy together.  They’ll probably get married”.  At this, I am finally able to get my two cents in and deliver a nice, gentle, but healthy dose of reality. 

And then I am struck by my own dose of reality, only, not so gently.

This is a glimpse into my future and the future is not so far away.  My girls are growing up.  The time that I have left to really impact them and fill them with the Word is growing shorter day by day.

 

  I am suddenly glad I wore my super large, incognito sunglasses, as they fill with tears.  

  It is in these times that I feel the effects of my weaknesses as a parent. I question whether I am doing enough to raise them to be godly women.  I cringe as I remember the times I have failed them and missed opportunities to teach them. While it has always been my deepest desire to “train up my children”, the reality is that balancing family life and ministry is hard. It is a constant juggling act.

  Though I try to smile on the outside, inwardly, I cringe when I hear someone say how great it is that I can be a Pastor’s wife and my schedule allows me to be so available to my children.  Ministry life is a 24/7 job (lifestyle). And while I consider it an honor and know that it is what I am called to do, the truth is that the sacrifices that this life requires of my children and our family have been great.  Sometimes, the cost has overwhelmed me with guilt.

   At those times, He reminds me that I must trust in His GRACE.  I must trust in His grace to cover my weakness as a parent. I must trust in His grace to cover all of those times when the responsibilities of ministry have left me unavailable to my children. I must trust in His grace when, despite my efforts to shield them, they have been exposed to the “ugliness” that sometimes happens in church, that no child should ever have to know about or be affected by.

His GRACE is sufficient.

 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

The Greek word for sufficient used here is ar-keh'-o.

According to Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, it means to be enough. But it is also akin to the word ah'ee-ro which refers to raising a barrier.

His grace is enough to raise a barrier around my weak areas. 

Wherever I fall short, His grace come in and strengthens those places in order to keep them strong and protected.

How AMAZING is that GRACE?!! 

  We all have weaknesses. We can’t do it all.  The good news is the barrier of His grace covers us. We can rest assured that when the enemy swaggers in to show off his punching skills and expose your weakness, His grace has made a barrier strong enough to withstand whatever punch he may throw.  So take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and rest in His GRACE. Pin It

Tweet

Pin It