Grace makes beauty out of ugly things
Sunday, June 4, 2006 at 8:27PM I think I've hinted before that Dad wasn't the father that any of us really would have wanted. I don't want to paint him negatively, because he was my Dad and I've inherited some of his traits. He really was, in many ways, a generous, truthful, and funny man with all kinds of potential.
But he failed as a husband and a Dad. There's no other way to say it.
Enter grace.
Yesterday I saw again what God can do when one person - in this case, my mother - shows grace to a person who didn't deserve it. Over the years, that grace worked its way throughout our family. The end result is that we gave Dad a much better send-off yesterday than he really deserved, but it was exactly the send-off that we needed to give, not based on performance but based on God's desire that we honor our father. We got to extend the same grace to him that God has shown to us.
Yesterday I looked around at my brothers and sister and mother and realized how incredibly blessed I am. And how great grace can be.
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace, U2
Reader Comments (3)
Thank you for your vulnerability here, Darryl. You point the way for many of us who wonder what we're going to do with the baggage someday.
It's realizing that he too was human. My dad died 14 years ago and he wasn't the best husband or father in the world, but he was my dad and I loved him. Thanks Darryl.
Rev. Mike: You can't take that baggage with you. Best deal with it now. I have an idea: Why not give it back to the creep (Satan)that gave it to you in the first place?