While having dinner with friends, we discussed our family backgrounds and the frugality of some of our parents. One man was the son of Italian immigrants, and when he was a child, his mother would buy a chicken each week. Because it was the least expensive option, his mother bought a chicken that was still clucking and executed it herself. That may seem an unlikely avenue to lead to thoughts about God’s grace, but stay with me.

Our friend can still remember the distressing sounds that emanated from the kitchen as the fowl became unalive. That was the brutal reality of the process his mother had to go through to provide food for her family. As the now-grown man shared that story, I imagined him as a little boy looking forward to dinner, yet also knowing the cost. Today, we can insulate ourselves from that unpleasantness by purchasing our chickens already dead and neatly displayed in their shiny plastic packages. He didn’t have the option of willful ignorance that we enjoy.

Although I don’t know what his mother did with some of the parts, he said she used them all. That one chicken became several meals, and undoubtedly, they were all tasty. Hey, she was Italian! Today, there are upscale “nose-to-tail” restaurants that pride themselves on using every part of an animal with nothing wasted. For many from previous generations, that was a normal way of life, and in many parts of the world, it still is.

After we parted for the evening, a striking parallel between God’s grace and that lady’s frugality came to mind. God doesn’t waste anything either. He offers us grace and can take the good parts of our lives, the suffering, and the messed-up parts, and use them all for His purposes. Life isn’t always wrapped in clean and tidy packaging like our supermarket chickens, or like the curated bits projected in social media posts. We all encounter the yucky parts, the stuff we didn’t plan, and some of it is pretty horrible. But God uses those things, and if we let Him, He’ll draw us closer to His heart through them. And this may come as a surprise to you; it’s not always about us. Sometimes, He allows us to experience things that will help others.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 reads, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (NIV Emphasis mine). So, from a biblical perspective, what we experience isn’t necessarily just about us. Clearly, God sees us in our difficulties, and in His grace, He comforts us. But it doesn’t end there. We then have something to share with others who need it.

Is there someone you know who needs an arm around their shoulders and the comfort you can give because you’ve been there? Words aren’t always needed, but sometimes sharing your story of God’s faithfulness can lift a hurting heart more than you can imagine.

Who knew a tale about a dead chicken could spark insights into God’s grace? God doesn’t waste anything; the good, the bad, or the ugly. You might want to reflect on that the next time you sit down to a chicken dinner. And you can be grateful that you didn’t have to make it unalive yourself.

Brenda Erb Roberts