Pastor Rob Bell tells a story in one of his books about a wedding ceremony he conducted on a beautiful summer afternoon. It was held in a park in a grove of trees, and at the end of the service, the couple was handed a cluster of helium balloons on strings. The balloons were symbols of all the mistakes they had each made in the past. As a picture of starting over, together, they wanted their first act as a married couple to be letting the balloons go.

Rob writes this: 

“They walked out of the grove of trees into an adjoining field. Just the two of them, holding hands, standing in knee-high grass, exchanging words that only they could hear. Then they raised the balloons above their heads and let them go. We all stood there, watching those balloons float away until they drifted from sight. There are moments you wonder if you’ll ever forget. Events that sear themselves on your conscience. That moment was one of those for me.”

“A few years later their marriage imploded. She moved an hour away. He relocated to another part of the country. They divorced.”

“I finish with this story because life is messy. Gut-wrenching. Risky. Things don’t always turn out well. Sometimes they don’t turn out at all. Sometimes everything falls apart and we wonder if there’s any point to any of it. But I have to believe that we can recover from anything. I have to believe that God can put anything – anyone – back together. I have to believe that the God Jesus invites us to trust is as good as he says he is. Loving. Forgiving. Merciful. Full of grace. And I have to believe that God does not run out of balloons.”

I pray again today that you would learn from your failures in life and that you would trust the merciful grace of God. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we have all fallen short, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23). As you are forgiven and blessed, may you ever look for ways to share these gifts with a world desperately in need.

Let us pray: Wash over us with your grace, O God. Empower us to turn again to you, and follow you with all of our hearts. Amen.