A Portion of a Second Helping

Almost the entire portion of cooking was performed by my grandmother when I was growing up.

Grandma was a terrific cook. She had learned to cook from her mother. There were no recipes written down, although she tried to fill out recipe cards on occasion. A smidgeon here. A dash of that. Bake until done.

You could not really give Grandma a verbal compliment on her food. “Oh the icing was too runny. The maringue is too firm.” No matter what you complimented Grandma about, she would find something wrong with the food.

The best way – in fact, the only way – you could compliment Grandma on her cooking was to have a second helping of the food.

Doubly Good

Think for a moment about the chorus from the song Doubly Good to You, sung by Amy Grant, mentioned in yesterday’s thoughts.

You can thank the Father
For the things that He has done.
And thank Him for the things he’s yet to do.
And if you find a love that’s tender,
If you find someone who’s true,
Then thank the Lord —
He’s been doubly good to you.

Rich Mullins wrote the words and the song for his fiancé. He intended it to be sung at his wedding. But the two never got married. The woman that he loved married someone else. Rich spent his entire life single.

In the movie, Ragamuffin – a film based on Rich’s life, an interviewer is asking him about this song. The reporter wonders aloud, “Isn’t this kind of cruel, that you don’t have this kind of love? I guess God hasn’t been doubly good to you?”

Rich quickly answers, “God doesn’t have to be singly good to any of us.”

Let the impact of that sentence weigh on your heart for just a moment.

God doesn’t have to be singly good to any of us.

In fact, though, the statement needs the proper perspective. The proper perspective is found in the word “grace.” The Psalmist writes, “As for me, I am needy, but the Lord takes thought of me” (Psalm 40:17). Jeremiah writes, “I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;”

Grace Upon Grace

The Creator of the universe is mindful of me. Shouldn’t that thought alone blow us away?

But more than that, because of the sacrifice of His Son on Calvary’s Hill, God does not hold our sins against us. When He counts sins, He skips mine. When He comes to my house, my door and He sees the blood, He passes over my house.

Is there any way that I can enter into His gates any way but thankful?

There will be praise on my lips.

“For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

John calls that abundant. He calls that life.

I see it as my portion being doubly good.