In Search of a Relationship with Others, by Ruth Bell Graham
Uploaded by surfchick on Feb 20, 2005
In Search of a Relationship with Others, by Ruth Bell Graham
Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, has written a story which she calls "The Mender." She writes: "He had built for himself a great house on one of the Caribbean islands. It is a thing to behold. Tall rusty iron columns, collected and resurrected with an ingenious homemade device. This Great House is a masterpiece of salvaged materials. A collector and seller of scrap metal as well as antiques, he was also fascinated with broken bits and pieces of china dug from his front yard. His friends, John and June Cash, laughingly remarked it was the first time they had heard of a yard sale where the man had sold the yard itself. Carefully he fitted and glued the pieces together. Few ever came out whole. They remained simply a collection of one who cared. When I expressed interest, he gave me a blue-and-white plate, carefully glued together - pieces missing. 'You remind me of God,' I said. By the look on his face, I knew I shocked him, and I hurriedly explained. 'God pieces back broken lives lovingly. Sometimes a piece is irretrievably lost. But still He gathers what He can and restores us.'"
Ruth Graham's story is a parable of the church. We are an unusual collection of broken people. But God has taken us and collected the pieces of our lives and lovingly glued them back together. As we have experienced his grace, he has transformed our lives. Pamela Reeve has written, "Faith is remembering I am God's priceless treasure when I feel utterly worthless." How wonderful the grace of God is. It helps us to know that we are loved no matter what. In his presence we experience forgiveness for the past and encouragement for the days ahead. The problem is that this kind of grace and forgiveness is not always what we experience from those who are supposed to belong to God. It is a shock sometimes when we experience the forgiveness of God and the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, to come among God's people and find ourselves being criticized and judged. How is it that God is so full of love and acceptance and some of his people are so guarded and unaccepting.? How is it that the forgiveness of God is so free and freeing, but the approval of...