Christmas Mercies

Christmas Mercies
Routine can surely take us off course of recognizing the gentle touches from heaven each morning. I wake with an “On your mark, get set, GO!” mindset -- especially when I'm responsible for two boys and their full-on days of non-stop activities. I wake up at 5 am and I must quickly get my blog posted before 6 am. Done! Then I hustle to get the boys up and going for their early morning school day at 7:30 am. Then, the "yellow light" comes on for a short period of time and I make it back to my little quiet spot to start working on my post for this new day. But then, as if God literally turned my head to look out the glass doors, I get a glimpse of the glistening dew on the bushes and grass. I thought, “Oh, You wanted me to notice that “Heaven” visited last night?” I know a meteorologist would give us the scientific facts of dew in the morning, but in my corner of the world, I see it as God’s mercies that fell for me for this new day. After all, Lamentations 3:23 says “God’s mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness to us.”

We’re into the Advent/Christmas Season by a couple of weeks now, and though it's the most wonderful time of the year, we've all probably had an occasion to be disgruntled with someone or something. And, BIG surprise….. someone might even be unhappy with us. But thank goodness for God's mercy. His mercy embodies the great love and forgiveness that He extends to His children. Those mercies that are provided for us each morning are from our Father Who exhibits mercy beyond compare. “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) That’s what I call mercy to the nth degree. He made us in His image, so might we consider that He desires His kids to follow His lead and provide mercy to others as well? Perhaps you remember a time when one of your children made a huge mistake and they were surprised when you showed them mercy. We love them and we knew they would grow up and do better. Why does God choose to be merciful to us? Because He knows us, and He knows we’ll grow up and do better.

‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36).” In this season of good will toward men, shouldn't we amp up the mercy toward those around us? Let’s face it -- someone is going to cut into our line, probably when we are late and holding something heavy. Someone is going to be in a grumpy mood and snap at us. People might not welcome us onto the highway in front of them. Indeed…..this is a season for . . . mercy. Since we receive God's mercy for our flaws, shouldn’t we have mercy for the flaws of others? There will be people who just don’t know God and His mercy, so they don't have any of His mercy to give. But we can share the gift of God's mercy over and over again, regardless of how we are treated. And it’s a good idea to pray for those folks that just don’t know how to receive God’s mercy. Maybe the mercy we show them will draw them to our Father of mercy.

It makes me wonder "If we just amped up mercy and purposefully gave out more mercy in bolder ways, things around us might be different." We'd see the beggar on the street corner, and instead of thinking "Get a job", we'd, at the very least, say a prayer for him. We'd be more patient with the cashier. We'd be more tender-hearted to the "Scrooges" around us. We'd invite the lonely and family-less to join us for Christmas parties. Who knows? It may be in our giving mercy, that we will receive even more of the abundance of God's mercy to us. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Matthew 5:7

Oh, those beautiful dew-drops that remind us of God’s new mercies to us each morning. May we be dew-droppers of mercy to those we encounter today! Don't we want to have the heart to live this holiday season and the year in the light of the Lord’s words: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful". Luke 6:36