Grace and Mercy - I Am Not A Candidate

    Mercy is different from grace. Of course you probably know this.

Grace is getting what we don't deserve.

I don't deserve a lot of things. I certainly wasn't a perfect parent, but I have wonderful children. I don't deserve my husband and his servant heart toward me, but we're still married after thirty years ~ now that's grace! I don't deserve the faithful friends I have, but there they are, accepting me as I am and loving me 'anyway'. Grace is undeserved blessing.

I see grace clearly every day: letting someone go ahead in the grocery line; smiling; asking the clerk about HER day & listening; greeting the baggers; exhibiting patience with others who are slow or confused.

Workplace grace is smiling (again); submission to bosses; noticing others' workload and not putting more on them; figuring out problems yourself.

At home, grace is serving my husband when I'm as tired as he is or honoring his desire to see a movie that I think is boring. Grace is opening our home to others to come and find a relaxing, loving place to rest.

Mercy can be described as not getting what we do deserve.

I'll say it plain: I am a sinner. I couldn't begin to tell you all of my transgressions, and it's too embarrassing anyway. However, for reasons mostly unfathomable to me, God has chosen to forgive me, accept me and allow me to be His Beloved. What a wonderful thought ~ the Creator of the universe loves me! Amazing! Based on this most excellent example, I'd say mercy is undeserved forgiveness, as well as unconditional love. [Yes, UNCONDITIONAL love!]

Mercy is a bit harder to see than grace. If mercy is undeserved forgiveness, then I need to quickly let go of the irritation of loud, crying, &/or unruly kids [and my judgmental attitude about parenting]; obnoxious customers [maybe they're having a bad day]; slow, confused customers [we all get older ~ that could be me someday]; aisle hoggers [how many times have I been distracted?]

In my workplace, I need to quickly forgive slacking, whining, grouchiness, disrespect, interruptions.

At home, mercy is choosing your battles ~ ignoring blue hair on your teenager, letting go of the hurt I feel when others talk to me in a mean tone-of-voice, or not taking me seriously when I'm being serious.

    Grace and mercy go hand-in-hand. You can't really have one without the other.

A picture developed in my mind about how these two words would intersect. Interestingly, they could intersect at the 'R' to make a cross.

Grace as the vertical axis is like God allowing us to come to Him

even though we don't deserve to even be in His holy presence.

Mercy as the horizontal axis is like the open arms of Jesus on the cross,

accepting us, dying for us to make a way for His grace.