I Beg Your Pardon…..

I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine there’s gotta be a little rain sometime

I could promise you things like big diamond rings
But you don’t find roses growin’ on stalks of clover
So you better think it over
Well, if sweet talkin’ you could make it come true
I would give you the world right now on a silver platter
But what would it matter?

I could sing you a tune and promise you the moon
But if that’s what it takes to hold you, I’d just as soon let you go
But there’s one thing I want you to know
You better look before you leap, still waters run deep
And there won’t always be someone there to pull you out
And you know what I’m talkin’ about

When you take you gotta give so live and let live

Or let go…

All delivered with a smile and a fluffy yellow dress. How classy. It’s a grace-filled relationship reality check. And it really should be nestled in with 1Corinthians 13 in wedding vows to bring the “for richer, for poorer” thing to life.

Because it’s true. We are never promised a rose garden. And some days it rains. And there are thorns, not clover, on the way to roses. And talk is cheap. And nothing on this earth satisfies for long. And it is completely exhausting to try to be the source of someone elses’ happiness. And you need to examine yourself and others. And just because there is silence does not mean there is agreement. And it’s always a two way street. Peace. All of this is what makes life rich.

But hard. And we don’t always know exactly how to live this out. So, where do we start? By taking a cue from Jesus.

Jesus meets us where we are. He’ll walk on water in our hurricane to seek us out and comfort us. He’ll come to the well, and tell us everything about ourselves and still love us and tell us to come to Him. He’ll pick us out of a crowd that we don’t belong in and ask to come into our home. And even when surrounded by great crowds, he’ll feel our tug and turn and ask who is seeking Him, and heal us.

One of the first times Jesus “met me where I was” was on a freeway, whipping around a cloverleaf off ramp. I had a strong visual image that came out of nowhere, of Jesus going through my file cabinet and ditching, ditching, ditching. He was taking each of the folders, one by one, and tossing them into a big garbage can. Hmmmm. Time to let somethings go? Move on? Set the refresh button?

That is grace. When Jesus meets you where you are, starts with what you have and shows you how to move on. He didn’t shame me with “why have you been hanging onto this for so long, for doing it that way, how could you have been so ignorant?” And he won’t shame you. That is a guarantee.

No. He said, with kindness, “You really don’t need this anymore, so let’s just toss it, ok?” And he moved quickly- and without looking back through the files. And was done. No shaming and no grudges.

So that part was kind of fun, but here’s the hard part. You need to do that with the people in your life, with your relationships. Because that is grace too.

I know. Insert scoffy, sarcistic “seriously?” sound.

“But they hurt me and they weren’t supposed to do that.” Maybe you have hurt others, too? Pretty much the answer is yes because we all have. And still, we want perfect, from ourselves and others. But dropping it is the way to grace. I know. It’s so hard. Because God did put a desire for perfection in your heart, but no relationship (or perfect room or beautiful house or vacation or perfect child) will ever satisfy that longing. Maybe temporarily. But it’s not the lasting peace you are looking for.

“So smile for a while and let’s be jolly
Love shouldn’t be so melancholy
Come along and share the good times while we can”

Lynn Anderson

Let’s just meet each other where we are. Just like Jesus does for us.

Then go boof up your hair, and put on a fluffy yellow dress and a great big smile.