Grace

Grace. Such a beautiful word...but it stirred up such unpleasant memories.

Today it was one of G's spelling words. She is supposed to know what each word means in order to write a sentence for them. She didn't know what grace meant, so came to me for an explanation. It's actually pretty tough to explain an abstract thought like grace, especially to a Liberian child. They have very little ability to think abstractly. So I thought of the brilliant idea of explaining grace by illustrating what the families who adopted the kids from the mission where she's from in Liberia did was grace.

I tried to bring home the fact that it's something we are given that we don't deserve. That didn't go over well, since she, like most of the kids adopted from there, came complete with a huge sense of entitlement. How do you explain grace to someone who thinks they deserve every good thing available plus more? I tried to get her to understand grace by saying that the people who adopted did so out of the kindness of their hearts, not because the kids did anything to deserve it. She thought of course, they did deserve it! She, like many of the kids from Liberia, has no gratitude for the money, time, or hardship that it all took with no effort on her part. I won't even go into all the hardships after they got here!

I have to say that anyone who knows me knows I don't usually post anything about the adoption anymore...it has been hard. Brutal, and for anyone thinking of doing this with an older child from a third world country...well, do so at your own risk. I personally wouldn't (and haven't) done it again. It is still so hard to believe that anybody could be that ungrateful and not bat an eyelash at what others have gone through for their sake. (she was disrupted by the first family, who went to all the trouble to bring her to the country)

So, instead of getting bitter, I remind myself of the definition of grace, and am deeply, deeply grateful to have recieved it myself on many occassions, but especially from Jesus- the ultimate in Grace! And sadly, no, I haven't always been as grateful as I ought.