The Quiet Slide From Gratitude - A Parable

A typical ’50s housewife stands at her sink, doing the morning dishes and looking out at the quiet street. Someone she doesn’t recognize is walking down the street toward her house. She’s alert but not concerned ... until he stops in front of her house. He checks an address on a piece of paper, looks at her address, and starts up her front walk. He knocks on her door. Cautiously, she opens it. The stranger smiles and hands her an envelope. “For you.” Then he turns and walks away. Slowly, she opens it. There’s $100 in the envelope ... no explanation. Strange. But he’s gone now, and she can’t ask. Her husband comes home, and she tells him about it, and they’re both baffled ... but ... it’s $100, so it’s good.

The next day at the same time, she’s doing dishes again, and the same man comes down the street. He stops at her house again and knocks again, and ... she receives another envelope. Another $100. Still stunned, she doesn’t think to say anything to him until he’s gone again. She stands there a moment longer than she meant to, the envelope still warm from his hand. Her husband rejoices with her good fortune and her $200.

The sequence repeats itself day after day. By the third day, she finds herself listening for his footsteps before she realizes she’s doing it. After a week, she’s ready. She receives the money and thanks him. By mid-month she’s standing at the door waiting. She opens the door and holds her hand out with a grateful smile. She doesn’t mean to expect it, but she does. The gifts just keep coming. As the month comes to an end, she’s up to $3,000.

At the beginning of the next month, she’s standing at the door at the appointed time. He comes down the street, and she’s ready to open and receive ... and he keeps walking. He doesn’t stop! He just goes ... to the next house, walks up the neighbor's walkway, and gives the neighbor an envelope. Her smile freezes. Something inside her tightens, as if she’s been robbed. As he walks back the way he came, she leans out the door and yells, outraged, “Hey!! Where’s my hundred bucks??!!”

That’s often the way we are with God’s precious gifts. First, we’re caught off guard by His grace. Then we take it for granted. Then we demand it. Not a pretty picture. The human heart is frighteningly quick to turn gifts into expectations and expectations into demands. We should always be amazed by grace. Grace is never owed. It’s always a gift. And the moment we stand at the door with our hand out, demanding it, we’ve forgotten what it is.