dailydatewithgod

 There is something about the word mercy that extends beyond forgiveness.  I rarely use the term except maybe as a kid when I was playing with my sister and we were seeing who could go the longest when twisting the others arm–who cried mercy first. (an interesting torture game we played as children).  I have definitely seen mercy in terms of God in scripture–that term gets used a lot.  But when I heard the message of merciful this morning I began to think of it as forgiveness 2.0.  Not only to be forgiving but forgiveness that comes from a place of empathy, of understanding because I have been in the same or similar situation.  It is a grander experience than forgiving, or having compassion for someone or something or even myself.  It is an acknowledgement of my own failings or weaknesses as well as that to whom I am being merciful.  A recognition that we are all in this together.  I can be merciful because I realized that I need the mercy of God.  Not only do I need it for myself but in order to be truly merciful towards another I need the power of God.  Mercy is forgiveness not simply because I can be forgiving, but because I need God’s help.  That includes how I am towards me.  I can be forgiving of myself but I need God’s help to be merciful towards me.  Sometimes the harshness with which I judge myself is way past reasoning and it takes a power greater than me to right that, to show mercy to myself.  When I recognize that I need God’s help to be forgiving of me, then I can reach to God to help me to be forgiving of others.  As I go through this day, I will ask for the gift of mercy so that I can extend that to myself and through that experience in my heart give it to others. My prayer for you today is that you may experience the mercy of God towards you in some small way that you condemn yourself.  I pray that it becomes an opening in your heart to share with the world.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

Posted in Uncategorized

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.