Grace & Mercy

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.~John 1:16

The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.~Lamentations 3:22-23

                                         

What an unfathomable thing.  Grace upon grace & new mercies every morning.  My human mind cannot wrap around these things.  Pastor said Sunday, be a blessing, even if people are mean and don't understand you, spitefully use you, be a blessing.  Sounds beautiful and lofty, but try to apply it in the heat of battle and I seldom attain it.  The little growth I see is that at least I usually don't retaliate, I withdraw and stay silent.  Steps in the right direction, but I definitely need to go further and try and be a blessing.

How can I not, when I receive His grace and mercy so freely given?  Everyone has situations in their lives where they are misunderstood, motives are suspect when they shouldn't be, the Christian who has mastered mercy and grace has one foot in Heaven I believe.  They "get it" and are in tune with the Savior they serve.  We are simply so geared for tit for tat that Jesus' teachings fall by the wayside as archaic, or not practical in the "real world," when the real world is not what we see with our eyes.  In the Real World, forgiveness, mercy & grace reign supreme....almost, if I have everything, all these, but have not love I have nothing.  So it is that love reigns supreme, and love.....well.....  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.   ~ I Corinthians 13:1-10

 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.~ I Corinthians 13:13

I am coming to Him almost daily, asking for Him to help me to act reflecting Him, and that is reflecting love.  I John 4:8.  So, I am striving to not act or react out of my hurt feelings or pride, but rather out of love.  I know a few people that do this all the time......Sue Hayworth, you know who you are!  I definitely do not. 

But that is the beauty of the Holy Spirit, He changes us really without our help, simply a willing spirit.  So I have hope that as time goes on, decisions, reflections, ponderings will be tinged with His love, not judgment or negativity. As I spend time in His Word and in prayer change can come.  I am thankful to have people in my life that love me "as is," and in the meantime, patience must be had......not so easy for me.  ;)