Journey into Outer Grace

The word “grateful” is odd when you think about it: “fruitful” means full of fruit, “wonderful” means full of wonder.  “Grateful” means full of… grate?  Huh?

Back to that bizarre but loveable language we call English.  It turns out that the Latin word “gratus” (meaning pleasing or thankful) became “grate” in Middle English, then -ful was added along the way.  Which makes it really say gratefulful.

Although it sounds redundant, sometimes I do feel gratefulful.  You know, there are times you are glad or thankful about some good thing that happened to you, but then it passes.  The feeling came and went, but it didn’t change us or affect us in a lasting sense.  We were grateful for a moment.  Yet the experience of being grateful sometimes overwhelms us–as when spared from a near-fatal accident or suddenly finding a child that was lost in a crowded street.

The reality of this hit me last weekend as Jenno and I felt so relieved that I have a teaching job in Spokane.  Our emotions have been a real rollercoaster… but as the real situation starts to sink in, we are gratefulful.  Full of gratefulness to our God.

I found in Psalm 107 these awesome words of comfort and deliverance:

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.

 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
       those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

 3 those he gathered from the lands,
       from east and west, from north and south. ^[a]

 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
       finding no way to a city where they could settle.

 5 They were hungry and thirsty,
       and their lives ebbed away.

 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
       and he delivered them from their distress.

 7 He led them by a straight way
       to a city where they could settle.

 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
       and his wonderful deeds for men,

 9 for he satisfies the thirsty
       and fills the hungry with good things.

I hope that we will not forget how precious this moment is… to be overwhelmed by the way God cares for His own children–people Jesus died for, people who are weak and stubborn and fearful and sinful–and God is still for us, still provides those who trust Him with what they need. 

He satisfies, forever.  Alleluia!