Hecklers. You find them everywhere.
I was doing a 5K with my family—walking fast, but certainly without any intention of racing—when I heard a guy yelling out to the participants. He was standing on his front porch, grinning.
"Is the race over?" he called out. "Is that why you're walking? If you walk any slower you'll be going backwards! I got out of bed for this parade? Where's my candy?"
His friendly heckling drew lots of laughter, and warmed the mood of cluster of racers around us.
And he wasn't the only one creating camaraderie on that morning. Other spectators stood alongside the road, yelling out, "You can do it! Keep it up!" One family placed huge speakers on their driveway and blared out upbeat music as they handed out cups of water.
Once, when a particularly enthusiastic spectator began jogging beside a discouraged racer and then other racers slowed down to support him, my step-daughter and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "I like people."
Just a few moments later, however,
the mood changed drastically. A woman drove her car for about 100 yards (very slowly) on the race course to make it from the main road to her driveway.
These same people who had been singing kum-bah-ya together (well, not literally) as we walked shoulder-to-shoulder for the great cause of feeding the homeless began yelling obscenities at her and rushing at the car. So much for the holiday spirit.
The woman who drove on the race course was ill-mannered, to be sure; but the crowd's lack of grace struck me as even worse. Our camaraderie suddenly felt meaningless and hollow because acceptance was clearly conditional. "If you're one of us, we'll love you," the message warned, "but if you get in our way beware."
Jesus said,
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?"*We need grace in our society, but grace is more than harnessing road rage. It goes beyond getting off the cell phone when checking out at the cash register. It's not just donating money to a good cause.
Jesus calls us to love, and he calls us to love those who are not easy to love. To do that—to be gracious people—we must engage others authentically. We must attempt to see situations from the perspective of others, putting our own agendas aside. And we must humble ourselves.
I'd like to add a Dayspring ending here, to say that the woman's car broke down and everyone teamed up to push her car into her driveway...or something heartwarming like that. But the crowd moved forward and the little interruption was forgotten.
My step-daughter still likes people, and thousands of dollars were raised to feed the hungry in Indianapolis.
and I'll choose to love not only the woman in the car, but my fellow racers who weren't so lovely.
Who wants to join me in spreading a little grace this year?
Leave a comment on the DaySpring blog.
When my son Chad was little, he said the cutest things. He once asked why his bald grandpa had "blind hair." Another time he put his sleeve up to his cheek after I kissed him and said, "Don't worry, Mom, I'm wiping off the wet, not the kiss."
Sometimes I go through old photographs or watch home videos of Chad and get a little choked up. Not because Chad is gone—he's living right here in my house with me—but because he's grown up now, a handsome young man of 19, and I hope to God I've done my job well.
