Elegance, politeness, generosity, pleasing, freedom…not words that most of us would use to describe parenthood.  Each of these words is listed in the dictionary under the word grace.

Nope…grace, at least by definition, and parenthood don’t seem to go hand in hand.  Where is the elegance in cleaning the spit up off your shirt- again?  Politeness doesn’t flow freely when you have a house full of boys (potty humor, anyone?).  Generosity is a myth when it comes to asking an 18 month old to share her favorite toy with another.  Pleasing and freedom…maybe some freedom to sleep late, eat a full meal while it’s still hot, or go to the bathroom alone would be pleasing…but who knows when you’re a parent? 

We don’t regularly use the word grace to describe parenting, but maybe we should.  We know as Christians that grace in the biblical sense is the free and unmerited favor of God; it’s His infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill toward us.  When you think about grace in those terms, then yes…it is easy- or at least easier- to see how it matches up with parenthood. 

How many times a day to we give free and unmerited favor to our kids?  They spill their cup at dinner for the third night in a row.  We love them anyway.  They forget their math book and you have to deliver it to the school for the 2nd time this week.  We love them anyway.  They don’t make their beds, they yell in the house, they stomp their feet on the stairs, they cry when we want to sleep, they walk slow when we’re in a hurry, and run away when we’re too tired to chase them.  We love them anyway. 

We do all the same things our kids do. God loves us anyway.  Grace…God’s grace…elegant, polite, generous, pleasing, and (brings) freedom.  He would use that word to describe how He parents us.  We should follow His lead with our kids.

Come to think of it…our children might say one aspect of being a kid is grace too.  We’re not perfect.  They love us anyway.

This Week’s Announcements:
Next week, 10/27 is or first Outreach Sunday of this school year.  We will be joining Dana Poor in working on a project for homeless children who live temporarily at MUST Ministries.  On these outreach Sundays, our small group leaders in 4k-5th grade take the morning off and we ask other adults- especially those who have a heart for outreach/service-  to help us.  If you are available to lend a hand on 10/27, please contact me at penny@stonebridgemarietta.org

What God is Teaching Us:
Follow the link below to see this past Sunday’s curriculum: 
This link is no longer available

Funny Things Kids Do and Say…make that funny things adults say:
One of our small group leaders posted this- "After a month of leading the 4k-5K class on Sunday mornings, I've learned a very important lesson: One doesn't ask an open-ended question to this crowd, unless you intend to lose all control of the conversation."  Her friend commented back to her- "I hear you! I'm teaching second grade and a few weeks ago asked the kids how they define Grace. I heard a list of every woman past or present who had been named Grace."  :)