I think it’s called Grace in the Good Book, and forgiveness in the world. And I need to do more of it. Routinely…
My cousin was married recently and her wedding was nearly perfect. The setting was a small and quaint church in a small rural Missouri town. She’s grown up in that church with her folks and brother, and it was a hugely fitting place to be married. The song choices were what you’d expect from a family of musicians – they were well chosen and absolutely beautiful to the mind, soul, and certainly the ears. My other cousin, his wife, and her brother offered a spectacular song with an accompanying piano. It was dramatic and brought a tear to my eye.
A song choice you may rarely hear as the wedding procession enters the church, while the bride is entering the gaze of a beaming husband-to-be would be Claire de Lune, by Claude Debussy. Wowsers do I like that song. Ol’ Claude did a bang-up job on that one. In case you’ve missed just the connection here, listen to this with your eyes closed and imagine a moonlit walk surrounding one of the most significant occurrences in your life. There can be no question of whether you have a personal relationship to the song after you drink it in… (side note, Claire de Lune {moonlight in French} was originally titled “Promenade Sentimentale” meaning sentimental walk)
It was a fantastic day and I was so charged the entire time that I could barely keep back both tears and my joy for my family. And then, when nothing could bring me down off the high the Lord had made available to me, the Pastor stepped on my toes… I don’t recall exactly what was said, but it was a reference to the Lord offering my cousin a natural child – giving birth essentially. …As if that was the only way God builds families.
Do I believe the Pastor thought that adoption doesn’t count somehow? Of course not. Was it a common thing to have said? Yeah, probably. Did it manage to really set me off? Yes, it did. But here’s the thing. It was a completely unintentional mishap and didn’t warrant any misgivings by me. Yet, I got prickly about adoption being forgotten or rarely considered. When that kind of thing happens, I immediately pivot to things like, “Are my children somehow lesser for not having been born of my wife?” I know that isn’t what this Pastor intended, and he did a fine job throughout the day otherwise.
The Lord built my family through adoption. Moses was placed with another family, just like my son and daughter. I know what the truth of these matters is. …And I didn’t allow an extremely small faux pas sidetrack me or anyone else. I saw red for a moment, and then immediately forgave the Pastor for his mistake in my mind.
I simply need to work on not only forgiveness, Grace if you will, but the reactionary nature of my being. I could do so much more for the Lord with my time if I’d never become unhappy with what I heard, to begin with. So, it appears that I need more than routine forgiveness in my heart, but also the passion of understanding that should precede it…
I have to wonder if that isn’t the inherent nature of what all Christians should be doing. It looks like I have work to do. And I will.
Dear Lord, may I be the kind of salt and light You wish in the ways You prefer. This continues to be my prayer.
