Hannah is my little sister. And, like the title says, her name means full of grace. I think when my parents named her that, they were hoping she would extend grace to all those around her. I think they may have forgotten that she may need a full amount of grace. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my sister. She's one of my favorite people. But I was not a huge fan of the amount of grace she got growing up. From the older sister perspective, while growing up, Hannah could get away with everything! At least in my opinion. I'm sure that she thought the same of me, and she may have been right. Side note: Hannah is probably the person that has shown me the love and acceptance of God more than anyone else. This is not me at all trying to bash her. This is me reflecting on my own short comings.
If I'm being perfectly honest, I always aligned myself more with the Brother in the Prodigal Son Parable. I mean, they were killing off HIS fatted calf for his brother! (Its totally like when it was my birthday party, and Hannah got presents, but at her birthday party, did I get presents? NO! (I am totally over this by the way, but when you're 8? It was huge.)) I knew that when you were reading the parable, you were supposed to be on the little brothers side, but I always felt bad for the older one. He didn't get any recognition for any of his hard work, and his little brother got to party hardy, and come out looking best in the end.
But then, I remembered. We're all Hannah, in need of grace. We're all the Little Brother. The older brother worked, yes, but he wasn't the one who had even built up this vast fortune. He wasn't actually entitled to anything. It was all their Fathers, who could have done anything with His fortune. And we all need more grace than we are able to extend to others, whether we're the little or older brother. And the most amazing thing, is there is no end to God's grace for us.
Its really astounding. He has had a plan to save us from the moment we started sinning. Genesis 3:21 is the first example of His plan that I've found, at least. You know, when he killed some animals to clothe them? When I see that, I see the first animal sacrifice (and a clear example of why God doesn't want us to be vegetarians). From the very beginning, He's done what He can to care for us, even when we've done our best to distance ourselves from Him.
And just so that those of you who don't know really know me, I am not at all saying that I am better than Hannah. I'm not saying that I am not in need of as much grace as she or anyone else. Really. The very fact that I align myself with the Older Brother should show you how prideful I can be. Seriously. But I'm working on it. And I'm only getting somewhere, because I'm finally realizing that I need His grace. Which is a huge hit to my pride. But I am pretty awesome, so it shouldn't be that hard, right?
Haha, so much work left to do!
Thanks for reading guys! It means a lot.
