The Disguised Mercy of God

I shared some thoughts in 2008 about the discples who were locked in fear.  I read that today and it reminded me of how God's mercy can be disguised as situations we perceive as problematic.  When I think of mercy I think of tender words, soft touches, gentle tones and grandmas.  Yet, it's the mercy of Jesus that invades the places of our lives that are bound up by fear.  Yeah...I think mercy invades.  Sounds contradictory to me.  His mercy is too relentless to let us live below our calling.  His mercy comes to us, inviting us into the reality of who He says we are.  And therein lies the great war....who we think we are vs. who He says we are.  His mercy is after my thinking and belief sytem.  His mercy wants to change my thoughts into His thoughts.  His mercy wants to turn up the heat and bring the dross of fear, negativity and spiritual sludge to the surface so he can skim it.  Because Father God is mercy, I don't believe He can sit idley by and watch us live amongst swine, when we are called to live in the palace of promise and potential.  His mercy has often been disguised because I did not see his goodness nor understand his purpose.  Take a look around at the landscape of your life.  That storm you see brewing, that problem that keeps surfacing, that perspective that seems so skewed....those could be the mercy of God disguised as "problems."  You and I are not being challenged by life, we are being challenged by God's goodness to live at the high level of grace he has called us to. Until next time...

Our only business (occupation or responsibility) is to love and delight ourselves in God." ~Brother Lawrence