God's Active Mercy

Occasionally, things will happen in my life that surprise me. My life is fairly predictable, so this is unusual. I don't like it when the little surprises are "Hey, I forgot to pay the power bill!" Those are bad surprises.

It is always a great surprise to me when my children say something profound. And most of the time, if I ask them where they learned it, their answer will more than likely be - from Mrs. Morgan or Mrs. Toni told me or Mrs. Rita said. Makes me very, very thankful that we have the best church in the world. But I also have feelings of being ineffective or unheard.

And then God sends me a sign. A note of encouragement. For instance, on the way home the other night, Gracie asked Maggie to sing a Girl Scout song. It's a version of If You're Happy and You Know It. Only it has verses that go something like, "If you think Boy Scouts are great clap your hands" to which the girls respond by not clapping and singing instead, "Oops, I missed." It has several verses. Maggie proceeded to tell Gracie that she didn't think they should sing that song anymore because she (Maggie) had been thinking and the song is disrespectful to boys. She said that she'd thought it over and the song implied that boys were stupid and not as good as girls. I felt a surge of joy. Not just over her decision but because she thought! Maggie sat and contemplated the song and it's value. She thought. It was a good moment.

So maybe I'm not beating my head against a wall as much as I think I am. And even if I am, God still commands that I not give up. But press on, keeping my eyes on Christ the whole way. And stop thinking that the results are up to me. God is working in my little ones. I can never begin to do what He has promised He will do, is doing. God's active mercy soothes my spirit and calms my heart. All my past sins are past. His mercies are new every morning. To me and my kids. Thank God for that!