Grace to Live

Our church sponsored a fun night at one of the local elementary schools this past week. We provided hot dogs, chips, drinks, popcorn, and games for parents and kids to play. We went to help with the festivities, and as I often do, I stopped for a few minutes and just watched people as they went through the hot dog line.
Most all of the families were working class, and many were, it seemed, of the poorer working class. That is a reasonable assumption as the neighborhood is generally the same. Many were of an ethnic variety besides anglo, and there was a good mix of younger and older, male and female.
Many of the adults who were there seemed to show the strain of living and raising a family. There were very few frills, no foo-foo outfits (whatever they are), and there were a lot of grizzled, dirty hands and tired, worn faces. The kids were excited, loud, and expended energy at a phenomenal rate. (If we could only harness that energy, I think we could solve the energy crisis.)
I could only imagine some of the issues that the adults in line may have been dealing with at the moment. Lack of health care, out of a job, being evicted, working long hours for substandard pay, no food in the house, kids not doing well, grandma living with the family, older brother in jail…you name it…it came through that line that evening.
In spite of all of that, however, the parents (and grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc) came to the fun night. They brought their kids. They had, for a few minutes, some time when they didn’t have to worry about being safe or warm or fed.
My problems and issues pale in comparison to some of this, and pale even more to what I know some of my friends and loved ones are working with. The human spirit is as tough as nails. God grants to each of us the grace to live, love, and celebrate Him as we carry on in a fallen world…with the promise of a future that is beyond anything we can know or understand.