Mercy

I think one of the most rewarding things in life is when God teaches you something, then gives you an opportunity to show Him what you've learned. In Bible study this week we learned all about mercy. We all discussed that it was easier to give out mercy than to recieve it. I remember sitting there thinking, well that sounds really good, but is that really true? I mean, when we really like a person its fairly easy to give them mercy. (Most of the time...) But then what about those people who we just don't really like or even know. Do we honestly find it easier to give them mercy than to accept it ourselves? I know I don't. Let's put it into perspective. You are driving down the road with your chidlren asleep in the back and a car is tailing you just waiting to get around you. It finally gets its chance and flies past you, waving their favorite finger at you. Just as you exceed the speed limit, you pass a cop, who then pulls you over. Seeing your sleeping children in the back, he has mercy on you and lets you go with a warning. You're thinking he better not have given you a ticket after what that jerk just did to you...he's the one that deserves a ticket. Yeah, he probably did deserve the ticket, but someone somewhere had mercy on him and let him go, just as the cop did to you. You see, I think its wrong to assume that we always find it easier to extend mercy to others than to recieve it ourselves.

The Lord gave us a wonderful opportunity to show someone mercy tonight. Honestly, I really didn't even realize it was happening until it was all over and a light clicked on in my head "mercy." Casey and I had a much needed date night tonight. Landon stayed the night with Casey's parents and we went out to eat. We chose a place we had not been to in a while. We got our drinks and our appetizer fairly quickly and we were having a very enjoyable time. Then we waited, and waited, and waited for our salads. The table behind us who was seated after us got theirs (same server). Hmmm we thought. We waited some more. That same table got their entrees. We became annoyed. Then we started to get angry as we watched our server chat up all her other tables. We began to feel like they were getting better service because they were older (much older). After about 45 minutes of nothing, we were about ready to complain. And if you know us at all, we do not do that!! We both served and we just don't complain. Then our server came over and confessed to us that she had forgotten to put our order in. She apoligized over and over again and promised to make it up to us. We got our food shortly after that, and then we recieved a free dessert. She continued to apoligize the rest of our time there. Basically, we waited over an hour for our food, simply because our server made a mistake. She messed up. She really didn't deserve a good tip, if any. But instead, we had mercy on her, and tipped her better than we usually do. She deserved nothing, but instead got something. I felt the Lord say, "you finally get it."

I'm sure that lady expected us to not even leave a tip after all that. Imagine her surprise as she came to the table to see what had been given to her. Its just like what the Lord does for us each and every day. I think a lot of times though, we are too busy to even realize when mercy has fallen on us. Or sometimes I think we think we deserve mercy. "Yes I know messed up Lord, but I really don't deserve to be punished, I still deserve this or that" I think its when we have really been broken that we understand the true value of mercy. Its when we are at the feet of the cross that we realize we have been taking it for granted. Mercy isn't something we should take for granted. We don't deserve it, yet we get it over and over and over again. Not only do we need to practice bestowing mercy on others, we need to practice humilty and be grateful for the mercy that we get.

"Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy." - Mathew 5:7