April 10, 2014 at 8:09 am, by Carl

The deep context of another human we will never know nor cannot truly appreciate.  They always bring, I always bring, my context with me, a hidden background complex and beautiful and sad, to everything.  As Lewis said, there are no ordinary people.  Or, there are no people you can really understand or know.

 Legolas_amazed

This is probably why, or another reason why, grace must abound. You don’t know why she did that.  Heck, she doesn’t probably fully know why she did that.  But there it is and yes it may frustrate you or disappoint you or make you angry.  What it should do more truthfully is make us softly curious.

 

There are several scenes in LOTR where Legolas, played by Orlando Bloom, sees what the elves call the gift of the humans—death.  Bloom did a wonderful job of looking on as one innocent of the experience—innocent and curious.  “What is happening?”  “what does it feel like?”  “Why are they crying?”  Incapable of knowing…rather than judging, he stands full of grace observing, wishing to be respectful, eager to be supportive.

 

That is how we should feel toward others.  Of course, we are human too so perhaps there is some thought that “they should have known better” or “I have to deal with that too, so they should do better.”

 

Fair enough.  But, at the same time, as another human, I must remember how much, and how often, I stand in need of grace.  How often I fail others.  How often I fail God.

 

But even there, I hear God say “you haven’t failed me—you can’t really ever fail me if your heart is after me.”  That feeling of failure is somewhat a lie from the enemy.  God grants forgiveness as soon as we ask and then forgets, as far as east is from west.

 

Here then is a key…God, who knows me best, who knows my context in ways that no other human can, loves me anyway, showering me with grace.

 

Thus, I must move easily to give grace to the amazing creation standing beside me, this being whom I do not know their context.  I only see the briefest of glimpses…and while their acts often surprise or disappoint me, I do not know their context, their back-story.  So, I must stand with Legolas and watch amazed.