Mercy

Sometimes just a word or phrase just grabs my attention.  I have a playlist on Spotify called “Sheep in Wolves Clothing.”   It is the name of an album but the title just grabbed me.  Like when I did not even know what I was getting when I bought an album because of it’s title alone called “Local Hero” by Mark Knopfler.  Turned out I really enjoyed the album.
I heard a phrase I really like just before.  “Mercy in Disguise.”  I don’t know why but I just like it.  Mercy is just a word I like.  For me there are simply some words that are special in the English language.  Not that they are special in themselves but what they mean.
I think it is really special.  I am not thinking of the gruesome and hideous crimes but the everyday offences that come the way of everyone.  Things said or not said, acts done or not done, that hurt.  That bring down.  That belittle.  Things that if allowed to take root could really destroy.  Not the one who caused the offence but the one who took offence.
It seems so often mercy in disguise is needed to avoid becoming bitter and twisted.  I watched a show based on a true story on tv about a guy that was having trouble with an associate.  His wife ended up saying to him that you were not put there for him but him for you.
So often it seems people come into my life who I would not normally associate with, but circumstances force us together.  More often than not it is my attitude that needs to be dealt with, rather than another’s personality.
 It is a fact of life that some just have pricky personalities.  It seems every word spoken to them confirms another is against them.  Something said in innocence is taken as anything but and if I let it it could get my back up big time.
Sometimes I need to show mercy in disguise.  That can be really hard.  Seemingly impossible at times.  Sometimes the hurt is a lifetimes worth.  Sometimes it seems the other does not seem to deserve good things.  When others are kind to them  it is pretty normal to think “if only they knew.”
I need help for that sort of thing else it seemed the harder I try the harder it is.  My thinking is to pray for the one that has hurt me.  I fid it impossible to hate someone I am praying the best for.  It is really hard at first.  Thankfully it gets easier.  There comes a time where my bitterness and hurt transpires into a genuine wanting of the best for that person.
I guess it is all about how I see things.  I genuinely feel I have no right to imagine I am in anyway better then another.  My fault may not be theirs, but that does not mean no fault exists. To me, unless I exercise forgiveness and mercy the chain remains unbroken.