Of Grace And Beauty

Of Grace And Beauty

by

Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (11/25/2013)

“...Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (St. Matthew 6:9-13, King James Version [The Lord's Prayer]).

Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he has done for me, my soul cries out, Hallelujah, Praise God for saving me. According to Apostle Paul to the Ephesians (2:5, KJV), “...(By grace you are saved;)”. On this day of blessings and thanksgivings, I know the furthest thing from your mind is how much food you eat or where you sit at the table with your family. Many of us get used to sitting at the big table and the table for the children in some families becomes the little table since all the children grew up.

I remember one year, I accepted an invitation to eat with my next door neighbor's family so I scheduled my family's thanksgiving feast earlier than my neighbor scheduled her family's feast. I arrived and of course they invited me to sit at the big table. How gracious of them? I noticed the daughter, now a young adult sat at the table for children alone without her brother who recently passed in a fatal car accident so I opted to sit with her and soon some others who sat at the big table joined us. It was a lovely gathering and I enjoyed meeting each of my neighbor's family members and hearing of their escapades in life, the things that only family openly speak of. I did feel welcomed and I think that was what they wanted for me to feel welcomed on that thanksgiving--- to join them.

The feeling of welcome is a vested feeling, a feeling that in some way you contributed to their feelings in a way that could not go overlooked. A feeling of recognition for something you contributed to someone in their family. I did not dwell on the thought too long but nowadays I do think of the feeling that being vested in a company or in the United States of America and the benefits received as a result of being vested. In the United States of America, at age 65 you are vested to receive a good pay-out of social security and medicare. Those citizens of the United States who reached age 65, who are vested in the United States of America are not concerned in the least bit of the Affordable Healthcare Act and how in the world could they afford a healthcare plan that at the onset is not affordable to those who lost jobs under the age of 65.

My soul cried out, Hallelujah, Praise God for saving me. It feels good to feel vested, a sense of belonging to a nation that now cares for you by providing benefits for healthcare and whatever else you might want to use your benefits pay for. Will the young citizens that many companies hired pay into the system to lessen the payout amount for everyone? Will they carry the load? Presently, it is hope without substance and the grace of God sustains us; Jesus saves us.

Everyone waits to see what young America will do? You can hope until they pay into the system to give everyone an actual amount of how much they will help, even though it is a mandate, how rapidly they pay-in will either save the credibility of the system or cripple it as a money pit for everyone. Now, I put my trust in God and I remember the Lord's prayer (St. Matthew 6:9-13):

“Our Father which art in heaven, My God of heaven, Heavenly Father,

Hallowed be thy name. Holy is your name. Your name is Holy. Thy

kingdom come. Let the kingdom of God come forth with Christ Jesus.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Father it is your kingdom, the

kingdom of heaven is your kingdom, let Jesus come with your kingdom

for you gave Christ Jesus all power, in heaven and in earth. Thy will be

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done in earth, as it is in heaven. We watch for Jesus to come, for the

will of God to be done, in earth, as in heaven. Father, let your will

magnify grace in earth, as it magnifies the faith of grace in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this thanksgiving our

daily bread. In Christ Jesus, Jehovah Jireh, our provider gives us