Grafted by God

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name...

So began the Collect of the Day in today's worship. This had new meaning for me, having just endured a gum graft two days ago, now sitting in the pew with a swollen and slightly sore face. The dictionary states that grafting produces uniting, joining, attaching, or implanting. But, as all gardening books tell you, the process involves cutting and a period of recovery.

When we grafted our children into our family, via adoption, there was certainly some cutting and pain involved. Pain for my husband and me when we couldn't conceive, pain for the birth mothers as they decided what to do, pain as they placed their babies for adoption, and the pain that our children may yet experience in the future. But as we look at our family, the family that God built for the four of us, we can't imagine it any other way. The pain of the past subsides, and we are left with the delicious fruit of the graft.

When God grafts us into His family, there is some pain involved. There is pain when other family members reject the faith (and you, too, in the process). There is pain as you gradually come to realize just how sinful you truly are. There is pain when you see yourself struggle in life, and non-Christian friends or family experiencing "success." And yet, triumphant over all of this, is the thankfulness for God's grace and mercy, the joy of studying His Word, and the wonder of worshipping Him with fellow believers.

Just as one recovering from gum surgery, you may be tempted to think, "I felt better BEFORE the surgery! Everything was just fine!" In reality, none of us is "fine," and we weren't better before the surgery. We were dead in our sin! God, in His mercy, takes us, saves us, draws us to Himself, and graciously grafts us into His family. May we love His name and worship Him forever!