The Grace and Truth Within

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14 (NRSV)

What does it mean to you that the Word became flesh? How have you witnessed Jesus live among you? Where have you seen his glory? Where is his grace and truth still on full display? How do you celebrate this event?

I once heard a story of a woman in her early 30s who went to a soup kitchen with some friends to serve the needy. It was Christmas time and they all felt the spirit of the season and knew they needed to do something to help others. The group of them arrived and began to help cook, and set up the coats that were to be given away, and prepare the tables for the people who were about to arrive.
The woman had taken off her coat and set it on a chair as she helped set things up. Eventually the needy people arrived and they were served a hot meal prepared with love, they were able to look through coats and take what they needed, it all went off well. As the afternoon kept going on, one of the woman’s friends came up to her and said, “I just saw someone go off with your coat! She must have thought it was being given away.” “Oh no that is my best coat, and it goes so well with my scarf.” “Well you should go run after her and get it back.”
The woman grabbed her scarf and ran off after the lady who had mistakenly taken her coat. A couple of minutes later she returned. Her friend asked, “Where is your coat? Was she unwilling to give it back?” “No, no, I didn’t ask for it back.” “Why not?” “I was running after her and then realized I can get a new coat. So I decided to give her the scarf too, because it goes so well with the coat.”

Jesus still lives among us. Jesus lives in every kind act, in every loving heart, in every joy filled laugh, and in every moment that is full of grace and truth. That woman was full of grace and truth when she made it back to the soup kitchen. Christmas is approaching. Let us pray that this Christmas is the one where we accept Jesus into our hearts so that he lives in us not just at this time of year, but all year every year. Then people might see his glory through us!

With hope and joy,
Garrett