Blunders, Grace and Humility

Maybe you’ve seen the new story of an awkward moment between the second-ranking general in the US Army and Valerie Jarrett, White House adviser. Both were dinner guests at a White House dinner when this incident occurred.
Ms. Jarrett was seated at a table when Four-star General Peter Chiarelli happened to walk by. Ms. Jarrett saw only the striped pants of his dress uniform mistaking him for a waiter. So she asked him to get her a glass of wine.
This is where it could become a “really awkward moment” –- rebuke, embarrassment, chagrin. You can use your imagination to picture the possible next scenes.
Instead, the general smiled, walked away and came back with the glass of wine that had been requested. In his brief absence, Ms. Jarrett had been advised of her blunder. Beet red and holding an acute sense of needing to set the matter right, she began the apologies to General Chiarelli. With a degree of class, good humor and in order to defuse her discomfort, General Chiarelli acknowledged her honest mistake and invited her to a meal at his home.
Questioned about the gaffe, the General told a CNN reporter, "It was an honest mistake that anyone could have made. She was sitting. I was standing and walking behind her, and all she saw were the two stripes on my pants - which were almost identical to the waiters' pants, really. She apologized and will come to the house for dinner, if a date can be worked out in March."
General Chiarelli displayed a whole lot of class in this situation, more than most people would be able to muster under the circumstances. In fact, columnist Bob Green captured that sense in a title, “4-star general, 5-star grace.”
Too often our emotions get in the way of a truly humble and graceful response to such situations. Too often we react in less than helpful ways to cover our own embarrassment or our own pride.
Jesus walked the way of humility to serve others. The “Son of God” wasn’t embarrassed or to prideful to stoop to the level of humanity to serve our deepest need – the gift of grace to over come our sin. And in his living, dying and rising, Jesus gave us an example for our lives. The example is summarized in I Peter 5: 5 (NLT) "Serve each other in humility, for 'God opposes the proud but favors the humble’.”