Chicken Wings and God’s Divine Grace

Several years ago, I traveled to Paraguay with a group through John Maxwell’s organization. We had come because leaders in the country believed something powerful, if you truly want to transform a nation, you don’t begin with systems or politics- you begin with people’s hearts. Change hearts, change lives. Change lives, change a nation.

It was a long journey to get there. By the time we finally arrived, everyone was exhausted. We sat down together for dinner after a full day of travel. I hadn’t eaten all day, and neither had most of the group.

A few meals started arriving before others, and across from me sat a gentleman whose plate came first. It was overflowing with chicken wings.

He looked at me kindly and said, “Do you want a chicken wing?”

Instantly, I replied, “No, no, no. Those are yours. You eat. I’m fine. I’ll wait.”

He smiled again. “No, really. Take one.”

Again, I refused.

By the third time he offered, something happened deep inside me. It felt like God whispered directly to my heart:

“If you cannot receive a chicken wing from someone trying to bless you because you don’t want to impose, don’t want to take too much, or don’t want to feel indebted… how will you ever receive My unconditional love, forgiveness and grace?”

I sat there stunned.

Because suddenly I realized this wasn’t about food anymore.

God was showing me something much deeper about my soul.

How many times had I done this with people? With love? With kindness? With generosity? How many times had I kept myself guarded, refusing help, refusing blessing, refusing to simply receive?

And if I struggled to receive something as small and tangible as a chicken wing… how much of God’s love and grace had I kept at arm’s length?

God’s grace is holy. Perfect. Radical. It changes lives. It transforms hearts. Yet sometimes we treat it like something we must earn, repay, or deserve.

But grace does not work that way.

Grace is a gift.

Recently, I was reminded of this story while visiting an office where a couple of ladies were having a hard day. I asked them, “Can I get you coffee? A treat? Is there anything I can do to for you?”

Immediately they responded, “Oh no, no, no. We’re okay.”

And I laughed because I recognized it instantly, that same resistance I had in Paraguay.

So I shared the chicken wing story with them.

I told them how sometimes our inability to receive from people reveals how difficult it is for us to receive from God. We feel like if someone gives us something, we owe them back. If someone blesses us, we need to balance the scales somehow.

But God doesn’t love us with transaction attached.

God simply loves.

So after telling the story, I asked them again:

“Okay… now can I get you a treat?”

And this time they smiled and immediately said, “Yes.”

What if receiving is part of healing?

What if learning to accept kindness without shame, love without repayment, generosity without guilt, is actually part of understanding God?

The Bible says faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.

And I wonder sometimes…

Maybe a chicken wing can too.

Maybe something tiny- a small act of kindness, a simple gift, a moment of receiving- can crack open the walls around our hearts just enough for grace to enter in.

And if we truly allowed even that much of God’s grace into our lives, how radically transformed would we become?

Maybe heaven has always been trying to hand us small glimpses of love.

And maybe the question is:
Will we receive it?

Father God,

Teach us how to receive.

Not just gifts or kindness from others,
but Your grace, Your mercy, and Your unconditional love.

Break down the walls in us that believe we must earn everything, repay everything, or prove ourselves worthy before we can accept love.

Give us the courage to open our hands instead of closing them.
To soften instead of resisting.
To trust instead of fearing obligation.

Help us recognize the small moments of grace all around us- 
the coffee offered,
the helping hand,
the encouragement,
the chicken wing.

And let those moments remind us of You.

May we become people who not only give freely,
but who also receive freely,
so Your love can move through us without resistance.

Amen.

Big love - Rebecca Dawn