Mercy, kindness should be our standard

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning ...

- Lamentations3:22-24 (NIV)

I was struggling with trying to feel better after mistaking a mistake. It wasn't that my mistake was some huge blunder; after all, we all make them from time to time. I had responded unkindly to a loved one. And it bothered me.

It's not a behavior I like to display. And I woke up the next day thinking about what I had done. To my surprise, my next thought was God's mercy is new today. If you're like me, the first thing in the morning I can tend to start going over some of the things from the day before.

However, this day was different. As I went through my morning routine, I pondered this verse over and over. Then I realized mercy gives us another chance to start fresh without carrying the baggage of the mistake we made the previous day. It doesn't mean we might not have a consequence to work out. But God is merciful and wants to help us with that as well - if we're open to allowing him.

In my case, the interesting thing is I righted that wrong with my loved one. In general, I tend to be merciful. But God revealed my problem was I wasn't being merciful to myself. I needed to learn to extend it toward me, too.

Mercy seems to have been lost in this day and age, with everyone wanting justice and vengeance, we tend to forget God gives us mercy. Mercy is being forgiven when we don't deserve it. God extends mercy to us and expects us to receive it and extend it as well.

In Matthew 9:13, Jesus informs us to "Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy (readiness to help those in trouble)." Bible stories show us how God extended mercy over and over to those ready to receive it.

When we think of our own personal stories of how we came to know God, it's a story of how we noticed God's mercy and kindness toward us.

I don't know about you but I'm glad when someone is merciful or kind toward me. We love to be recipients of mercy. Then why is it so difficult to dish out?

I think it's because of our untrusting nature. We don't like being taken advantage of. We think what they did isn't right. It's not fair. We think showing mercy means we're allowing them to walk all over us. A little mercy doesn't mean we throw caution to the wind. It means we choose to show mercy, while being watchful and establishing healthy limits against unhealthy behavior. Most times, it's simply understanding we all make mistakes and carry one as if nothing happened.

When we get worn down by the problems we face, sometimes it seems more difficult to extend mercy. We're in a bad mood so someone ruffles our feather more easily. But if we go back to the basics, mercy and kindness should be our standard.

I believe if we could gain insight into how much mercy it takes for God to love us, we could extend a little mercy and kindness to each other.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted by email at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.