April 18th

Mentor, the family poodle, and I enjoy walking together. We go for about an hour, and enjoy together the benefits of exercise and fresh air. We walk, however with different purposes and styles. I am single minded in covering a certain amount of distance within a given time period. Mentor is out to smell the roses, other dogs, possible edible delights and pretty much anything with an interesting aroma. While I doggedly plow forward with carefully measured and timed pace, she lollops about (to proceed with a bounding or bobbing motion) from pillar to post, or at least as far as her leash will allow.
Given our different walking styles Mentor and I have to accommodate each other lest we end up in a tangle of limbs and leash by the side of the road. She is trained to stay on the leash side and never cross my path to get to  the other side. I give her free reign to go as far as the combined length of her leash and my arm will allow. I find the sidewalk more comfortable and stick to its hard surface as much as possible. Mentor, on the other hand, prefers walking on grass, so I always make sure that I hold her lead on the side that is covered by her preferred surface. With these slight adjustments to each others’ needs we are able to enjoy our times together without either of us missing any of the benefits and pleasures of a walk with a friend.
God does really amazing things and He does them perfectly. His plans and visions are universal in scope; His timeframe is eternity, His imagination limitless, His power limitless, His wisdom beyond measuring. To say that God is awesomely incredible doesn’t even begin to approach the full depth and breadth of the praise that He deserves. Yet this magnificently wondrous God accommodates we human beings so that we aren’t left feeling puny or inadequate. He concentrates His love so that it touches our hearts with just the right intensity. He limits His expectations so that we feel stretched but not pulled apart. He holds us in His hands so that we get the full benefit of a warm embrace rather than His full squeezing power. God knows what He can do, knows what we can take and meets us on our level, not His.
God’s understanding of our condition means that He not only ensures that we are challenged only within our limits to love and serve Him, He allows us to make mistakes and to get things wrong. As perfect as God is, He accommodates our imperfect use of the gifts and blessings that He provides for us. If that were the only accommodation God made for us it would be reason enough to celebrate. Yet there is more than this. There is one more way God makes room for us. God lets us sin. He doesn’t like it, mind you, but God lets us make mistakes. Not only does he let us sin, God forgives us when we recognize our mistakes ask to make things right with Him.
Jesus died to make forgiveness, the ultimate accommodation, possible. All that God asks for in return is that we accommodate Him a little. He just asks for us to make room for His laws, open our minds to His wisdom, and to lovingly accommodate folks the same way He accommodates us. At least that’s the way I see it.