Sunglasses in the sand

Often I would lose my sunglasses in the ocean when an unexpected wave would overtake me. I kept telling myself to buy a holder that would keep my glasses on in turbulence, but I never would. I just kept losing sun glasses. I don;t know why I would not make the effort to buy the holder. I am a thoughtful, resourceful person. Every reason known to man would suggest that I had a need and I would take a simple action to meet that need. NOPE

So why do I now have sun glasses with s holder to keep from losing them in the ocean? When we were at the beach at Gulf Shores earlier this summer, Gail and I were sitting under our umbrellas as usual. I looked down and there was this pair of sun glasses WITH A HOLDER. At first I ignored the glasses, knowing they were not mine. No one around was obviously the owner, but I didn't feel right receiving something that I did nothing to earn. I sat there - the glasses lay there before me. Just laying there for me to receive for myself.

I left the beach after some time, but Gail stayed longer. When she finally came back to the house, she had the glasses. She said, "I saw these glasses and no one claimed them so I thought you might would want them." So I said, "OK, but I think its quite strange that these sun glasses, WITH A HOLDER, just came to me at no effort of my own."

You know me, there is a life lesson in everything. Here is what struck me about the sun glasses in the sand as I walked to the beach in Nantucket this morning. What seemed like a random event was the appearance of sun glasses, with a holder, laid right before me. All I had to do was receive them. Not only did I not do what was a reasonable thing to do to purchase sun glasses with a holder, I wouldn't even receive them when they were placed right in front of me. In the end I had sun glasses with a holder in spite of my ineptness and because of a seemingly random event.

How similar is the Gospel of Grace. We are so inept at what we can do to meet our needs while the Sovereign act of God places Grace right before our feet, totally unexpected - there to just receive. There are many excuses we have for not receiving blessing that has come to us without any action on our part. It doesn't seem right to our natural mind - dominated by justice, exchange, and cause & effect. Enjoying the sun glasses with a holder that appeared from nowhere, a need I knew all along I had, all mine if I would just receive it, reminded me again of the blessings of Grace that God bestows.

I don't think we can ponder His Sovereignty and His Grace too much and I think many simple things in life can remind us of it. Sun glasses in the sand did so for me ......