What do you value? You family, your faith, your job, business and home?
I would like to explore values and what they mean to us. Not valuables, but values.
I sat in church the other day and heard them talk about MERCY. What is mercy to us and how does it work in our lives? I think that mercy is many things but mostly it is about understanding.
We have all said and done things that we regret. We may have been sorry or maybe we didn't even know what we did. Let me ask you something, have you ever wondered why someone didn't like you or was angry with you?
Have you ever held a grudge or wanted revenge? Have you ever had a friend or family member that just ticked you off, period.?
Well I am sure that as hard as I try to live within my standards, morals and values, that I have ticked someone off from time to time. I may have felt that I was teaching or helping, my intentions may have been good, but I learned a long time ago that intentions are only one part of the equation. How it is received is equally if not more important.
So what do we do when we have been the instigator, do we ignore the issue or do we seek out the person and look for forgiveness? Is mercy forgiveness?
How about someone who is in a circumstance that whether it is they're fault or not they are in a precarious circumstance. Maybe they are in the middle of a divorce, lost a job, a family member or something like that. Most of us are pretty generous with these issues, we feel compassion and concern. Is Mercy Compassion?
Now let me ask you about the addict or the mean nasty person who no one likes. How about someone that has committed a heinous crime? This gets harder, we don't like these people. We believe that they had choices and chose wrongly. We are angry for the pain that they have caused. What is mercy to them, does it mean that we bypass justice?
Mercy is love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness and yet it is more. Within the deepest part of our being Mercy is about sacrifice. Sacrificing our righteousness, anger and revenge. Stepping out of our own weakness' and immorality, out of our own imperfections and lack of strength, out of our character, then seeing the child behind the man, the fear behind the act, the pain behind the life. This with faith and love comes Mercy.
Please let me know what mercy is to you and what else you want to talk about. email me or follow me on Twitter. Let's talk.