Hoosier Graces

In case you live on another planet, this weekend culminates the Big Dance of all Big Dances.  Nothing is quite so nerve racking exciting as the NCAA tournament around here, especially when your very own beloved are predicted to take it all.  And especially when on the road to that crowning jewel we get to play against our biggest rivals.  This is simply such a fun time.  Getting together with friends to rally around your team.  There's nothing like it.


And nothing prepares our hearts for victory like the iconic movie Hoosiers.  It is one of my faves.  So when I was flipping through the channels the other night and saw it on PBS ( I know, go figure) it was as if the stars had aligned for me. 

We all love a great Cinderella story, don't we?  Seeing the no-namers come from behind, or the shy and  homely girl transform into the princess of the ball.  I can totally relate to them.  I've always considered myself a no-namer .  A girl in need of transformation.

So as I sat there watching Hoosiers for the bazillionth time, something struck me that I had never noticed before.  Grace is all over this movie.  The way Cletus gives Coach Dale another chance after blowing it big time at his previous gig ; the way Coach Dale treats Shooter, the town drunk;  the way Jimmy and Myra stand up for Coach when the whole town is pitted against him ;  the way Coach keeps treating the town who hates him so much with respect and honor. 

I don't know why I had never noticed it before.  

Maybe because I have never been searching for it so hard.

Some days everyday graces  make their way in and out of our daily lives without a moments pause.  I don't give them a second thought. 

Healthy children
                                            steady income
                                                                                    godly husband

                          loving family                                                                            MICROWAVES

minivans

                                                                 gas in the tank

                                                                                                                          food on the table
                      hugs and kisses
                                                                                           sunshine




But some seasons we are a little more desperate for those daily graces.  We need them like oxygen to our lungs.  Maybe it's the help us learn gratitude, or humility, or reliance on the Giver of all Graces.  I don't know.  But lately I've been feeling pretty desperate and needy. 

Desperate and needy.  Not exactly the most attractive way to describe myself. 

But thankfully the Lord does not see us the way the world does. 

He loves desperate and needy. 

He loves when we admit that we are weak, totally dependent on Him.  The Giver and Sustainer of all. 

This week I have been showered with everyday graces.  Probably no more than I usually get.  I guess I just noticed them more.

Things like The Honey coming home a day early from travel, or coming home 2 hours early from work, or a freshly cut lawn, or the kids learning to ride the 4-wheeler, or Baby Yahoo playing naked outside with the water hose, or the excitement of finding the first frog of the season, and the sound of flip flops being worn.

Beautiful things. For our good.  For His glory.


So I hope you all get a chance to sit back and watch the big games this weekend.  I hope you also might get a chance to take in the movie Hoosiers. Even if you have seen it a bazillion times, it is well worth it.   And I hope that your everyday graces are abundant!

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John 1:16