My father was a retired school administrator who loved gardening.One year he had a bumper crop from his hard work and was telling us how good it was to have so many fresh vegetables for the summer. “You’ll really like the asparagus when it gets ripe, and this is the best year so far for the tomatoes, and we’ll have a lot of green beans,” he said with satisfaction.

I responded with a hurtful joke about a man who died after surviving the 1889 Great Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood, and when he got to heaven he bragged to St. Peter about his experience in the flood. “Oh,” said St. Peter, let me introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is “Noah”.

My father paused, and I knew that I had hurt his feelings. “Ha,ha,ha,” he said dryly, and changed the subject. Afterward I was full of remorse and prayed that somehow the Lord would remove the sting of my “joke” from my father. The truth was that I really did like his garden, and knew what it was to be treated to freshly picked asparagus or tomatoes. I wanted a sign that I was forgiven.

The next time I talked with Dad, he told me a very gentle joke, and I laughed. I knew that my prayer was answered, and that God’s Holy Spirit had worked in the mind and heart of a man who Lived by faith, and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) The incident was a small one, but it stayed with me. I had read scriptures about the Lord forgiving sins, but had not thought of the sin being erased almost as soon as I spoke it and felt regret .

David, in Psalm 52, expressed some of my regret: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” I hoped a “steadfast spirit” would keep me from repeating the smart-alack responses, not just toward Dad, but toward anyone.

This small event taught me much about my relationship to Christ and about the very limits I place on that relationship. I knew that God answers prayers, and that forgiveness was entirely in His character, but I always believed that I was still responsible for the effects of the sin. (In David’s case, his new-born son had to die.) The grace that I received was undeserved, and I had received as well a spiritual harvest. I had no regrets. It’s true that, The Father Himself loves you because you have loved me. (Jesus) (John 16:27)

Love in Him,

Prue