Merciful Blessings

I started memorizing scripture before I learned to read. Sometimes my mom would help me by putting verses to music. I was singing parts of the beatitudes to the tune of Mary had a little lamb around the same time I learned my ABC’s. But I was an adult when I learned a lesson of how blessed mercy really is.

I was sweating as I put the laundry in. This was about nine years ago when I was caring for the elderly mother-in-law of a friend. The lady I was caring for, we’ll call her Mary, often felt cold, as many older people do. She had the heater on during the summer and wore sweat suits around the house. That was fine for her, but I was roasting, and wanting to sit on the porch where it was cooler.

I didn’t think much about how I had put the laundry in, until Mary opened the dryer and showed me a sweat suit covered in lint. I had put a towel in to wash and dry with her new sweatsuit. She was not happy and I don’t blame her.

I didn’t know how to make it right, but I did try. Not finding a lint roller, I spent quite a bit of time picking lint off that sweat suit. As I did, I realized something surprisingly profound. Just as there was no way I could make those sweats new and lint-free again, no matter how hard I tried, there is also no way I can make myself sinless and whole. That’s why I need mercy, and its close cousin, grace.

I could never deserve mercy. After all, mercy is not getting the punishment or harm we deserve. But I am glad that as I show mercy to others, I can know that this same mercy is given to me.

I was extra patient with Mary after trying to pick the lint off her new sweats, giving her the mercy I knew I needed myself. Today, when I remember that story, I know I’m not done offering mercy to others, as God so freely offers it to me.

Dear Father, thank you for mercy, for not giving me what I deserve. Help me continue to offer that mercy to others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Throughout this Day: how can you show mercy to others today?

Here is a new song I love, about God’s mercy: Matthew West - Good (Lyric Video)