PB&J

   (This blog is dedicated to Paige and her kindness, as well as her amazing change of life)

It was a simple offer. While spending time at our Hyundai store in Daphne, AL this Saturday, Paige who works as a service rep offered me her extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She explained that she makes an extra one every time in case someone else is in need of food.  After thinking about the Pizza alternative that the sales staff was having, I chose the PB & J.

Of course, this made me think of several things, always a dangerous proposition.

The mind of an addict is always thinking about how to do things that are against the grain. PB & J just goes together, like salt and pepper, ham and cheese, burgers and fries, ying and yang and anything else that comes to your mind that complements something else. Like recovery and helping others, giving back what we have been so freely given, which again reminded me of grace. And the kindness of Paige.

But to someone out of sorts with life, basking in dysfunction, the Pizza would have been the choice just because it was more exciting or different. If you would, please, align your mind with mine for a moment...........

There is the word of God contained within the Bible, and much of it in the Old Testament is about conflict, death and destruction. Fast forward to the New Testament, there is more written about love, forgiveness and grace. So we could respectfully say the OT was the peanut butter that needed the NT jelly to make it make sense, to make it palatable.

Christ completed the sandwich of salvation, which tastes oh so sweet to those of us who spent so many years trying to go against the grain, who were always making the wrong choices. Without His grace, we are still trying to get a pardon on our own merit. Have you ever tried PB without jelly? It tastes okay but seems dry and incomplete. The jelly brings it to life!

We always say, "there but by the grace of God go I", which loosely translated for this blog, and I do mean loosely, says this PB & J reminds me of how the grace of God made my life make sense, and gave me a chance to get things right. But only by His grace. It was my missing piece.

So when I took my first bite of that sandwich, it felt so graceful to eat such a thoughtful, perfectly made food, that it indeed reminded me how the Lord's way is so much greater than the way I chose before. 

Eating a PB & J will always be special now!