Giggling Grace...

Giggling Grace...

My friend Cara Pollard sent me an Advent meditation she wrote for her church devotional book. Cara writes beautifully about our need for grace. As I read, my mind went spinning back through time and I remembered Cara and our daughters Megan and Alison as children. The sound track for this memory video is giggles. Giggles and more giggles... They giggled at ghost stories, at who did what to whom and when, at and with each other, at adults who tickled their funny bones. They giggled for no reason at all sometimes except for the sheer joy of being together. The sound of grace for me is embodied in the laughter and giggles of children.
Somewhere along the way as we “grow up”, most of us lose our giggle. Not all of us do, though. Our friend Grady Nutt lives in my heart as a giggle. Out of the mouth of this tall, dapper Texan, a professional humorist who was a Baptist Will Rogers, would bubble up this giggle that would rope you in and you would giggle, too. I miss his giggle and I miss the laughing heart that was the home for his humor.
Children, and the occasional adult, visiting the farm always giggle. They giggle when the donkeys soft noses tickle their fingers as they feed them treats. They giggle as they swing high under the oak tree out front. Running down the hill or around the deck, they giggle and laugh. When a cow slobbers on them as they feed them cow jelly beans (alfalfa cubes), they giggle and go yuk! The sight of Rufus the basset hound brings on giggles.
Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughed (or giggled) when the angels told them she would bear a son as an old woman. She tried to keep her laughter to herself but the angels caught her laughing and called her out. Later she worried that her name would be a joke all over the neighborhood when folks found out that she was having a baby. She would be the cause of giggles and a giggles first cousin, snorts. Sarah took herself much too seriously as do most grownups. It is impossible to giggle and remain dignified.
Grace is neither dignified nor deserved. It, like giggles, comes unbidden and to all whether you want it or not, whether you believe it or not. Somewhere deep in the heart of God, grace bubbles up and overflows covering us all with the loving assurance of our worth. We can let go of our illusions of control, our need to be seen as responsible adults, our fears of foolishness. We can giggle at the sheer absurdity of grace, marvelous grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. And when we do, perhaps God giggles along with us just as the girls did years ago. After all, giggles were made to be shared.