Grace to bite my tongue

I had lunch with one of my children today.  She had a morning appointment in a nearby suburb and she asked if I would like to meet her for lunch before she headed back to the city.

I readily agreed, especially when she said she would like to have lunch at one of my favorite fast food restaurants, Chick-fil-A.  : ) 

When I arrived at the restaurant, a few minutes late as usual, my daughter was patiently waiting for me.  We entered the front door and discovered that the lunch rush was in full swing.  As we stood in line at the counter, a helpful employee offered to find a table for us.  She asked for one of our coats to use to save our place and I gladly gave her mine.

A few minutes later we placed our order and the cashier handed us our drinks.  We decided to take the drinks to our table and avoid the crowd of people gathered around the counter waiting for their food. 

It was a great plan . . . until my daughter set her drink down near the edge of the table.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the next thing I knew Diet Coke and ice cubes were spreading across the top of the table and cascading down onto the tile floor, the vinyl seat of the chair, and the hood and upper half of my winter coat that the helpful employee had draped across the back of that same chair.

It was one of those moments that every parent has experienced.  It doesn't matter if your child is three or twenty-three -- accidents happen.  And that's exactly what this was, an accident.

In some ways it felt like time stood still.  My daughter and I were frozen in place and I was faced with a decision.  Would I react in anger or respond with grace?   

Thankfully God gave me the grace to bite my tongue.  The angry remark that at one time in my life might have easily burst from my mouth was nowhere to be heard.  Amazingly, no angry remark even came to mind.

My daughter said she was sorry as she rushed to grab a handful of napkins to mop up the mess.  I accepted her apology and assured her that I knew it was an accident.  We dried off the table and wiped up the floor (where was that helpful employee when we really needed her?) and proceeded to enjoy a delicious lunch.  What could have been an awkward and tense time together ended up being a fun and relaxed hour of conversation and fellowship.

I am so grateful for the grace that the Lord extended to me.  It is only because of His love and abundant grace to me that I was able to respond with love and grace to my daughter.

I know that God doesn't want me to hoard the blessing of His love and grace.  He has abundantly blessed me so that I will glorify Him by sharing His love and grace with others.  Thanks be to God, He enabled me to do just that today!