And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
(2 Corinthians 9:8)
Baby showers have become our "class specialty." Although our class started out for "young couples without children," it has emerged as one where a baby shower a month is commonplace. But the baby showers themselves are anything but ordinary.
About three months before an expectant mom's due date, our Baby Shower Coordinator rounds up hostesses who agree to meet and plan a shower that is special for the honoree. Without fail, they pull out all the stops...cakes, punch bowls, crystal, luncheons, diaper cakes, couple events, games, prizes, flowers...whatever it takes to make each shower a unique celebration.
Yesterday was the day for Bethany's shower. We had planned it for weeks. We would have lunch at Bonnie's (King Ranch Chicken) right after church, followed by pink cake, pink games and pink gifts!
I was on my way to Sunday School when my phone rang. It was Bonnie. The shower hostess. Her little girl, Audrey, was sick, and her illness looked suspiciously like a stomach virus. With nearly half our class expecting babies, we knew we couldn't take the chance of exposing them to whatever germ might be lurking at Bonnie's. With a heavy heart, I walked into the class and broke the news to the hostess team.
That's when I saw grace overflow.
There wasn't a moment of hesitation. After expressing concern for Audrey, a class member jumped in and graciously offered up her home (for a shower an hour away!). Another class member (not even on the hostess team) offered to stop at a deli and pick up chicken salad to replace the casseroles Bonnie had prepared the day before and now feared could be contaminated with the dreaded virus. Others put their heads together to make sure the new menu would be plentiful and someone ducked out to alert guests who were driving in from out of town. The rest of the class jotted down directions to the new venue.
The lesson I presented was nearly redundant.
God has given us everything we need, even though we (like Adam and Eve) often look around with carnal eyes and say, "It's not enough" (Genesis 2:16-17,3:1-3 ). Jesus is our sufficiency. He is, for us, the Bread of Life. He sustains us. (John 6:48-51). We are limited. We underestimate God's awesome power, His unlimited resources, and His grace. We stumble over our circumstances and when we don't see how He can work, we don't believe (John 4:10-14). But God offers us His Son, and when we receive Christ, we receive God's Spirit, Who indwells us, fills us, empowers us and enables us to abound with grace so that we, like the apostle Paul, can rejoice in all things and be equipped for every good work (Phil 4:4-7, 2 Cor 9:8). The truth is, we are abundantly blessed; therefore, we can abundantly give.
A hastily re-configured baby shower is but a tiny example of God's Spirit filling our class members, urging them to graciously inconvenience themselves in order to rain blessings down on others. There have been many demonstrations of such grace in our class. Meals, mission projects, car repairs, phone calls, cards, visits, and other acts of unselfish love have served as evidence of the life-giving, transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.
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