PROMISE #29 ~ MERCY
I just rocked my sleepy, sniffly baby back to sleep.
Her blue eyes glistened, peering into mama’s face… and then closed to sweet slumber.
A memory. Recent.
Blue eyes. A pair of blue eyes, only briefly noticed…
The photographer’s shutter furiously snapping. I stood in contorted positions in the attempt to appear… natural. Feeling awkward on the city street, a glance tossed over my shoulder.
A man. Gruff, appearing older than his unrecognizable years… under the gray, worn stubble, weathered skin.
He stumbled in our direction… blue eyes. The blue glazed by years, pain, alcohol, homelessness.
what’s that do?
His gruff, garbled voice questioned, pointing to the white circular disk above my head.
It makes light.
The photographer answered uneasily.
But, it’s a cloudy day.
He murmured, intrigued by the scene before him.
That’s why we need the light.
He gazed for a moment, gathered his tattered clothes closely to him, and slid away.
Camera calmed its clicking. I collected my bag and returned to my busy day.
He left my mind for a while… then, the blue eyes. They pierced my thoughts.
I did nothing.
All this talk of love, and hope, and grace, and hands, and feet… and mercy…
And I did. Nothing.
I remembered the money in my pocket.
Why didn’t I give him the money?
Would it have made a difference?
Would he have spent it on food? More alcohol?
Does it matter?
All the thoughts of showing love to this body of Christ… and nothing… when a broken body part slips quietly away.
He had wanted to know what we were doing. Making light. Reflecting light. Being light.
My light had dimmed… for a moment. The moment a soul needed light on his cloudiest day.
His eyes, just as blue a baby-eye to his mama, many years ago.
What happens when the eyes fade, the body breaks, the soul dims… searching for light?
A confession to God, to me, to you. I hid His light. Cloaked mercy behind my own discomfort, uncertainty, fear.
What good is it to shine spotlights across oceans, to distant lands so desperately in need of light…
when we dim the light on our own streets?
This light… made to be far-reaching… and near. At the same time.
My remorse of my inaction, an offering, a prayer that I would shine His light brighter the next time.
A prayer for the man with the faded blue in his eyes. That God would show mercy to the grown baby of another mother…
even when I didn’t.
PROMISE #29 ~ God is merciful.
Titus 3:4-6
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
