Blessed are the Merciful

My Minnesota family/friends are telling me of the snow that has already begun to fall - winter has arrived early for them! As hard as the snow is to endure, day after day, it is not as much the snow as it is the cold. The snow is beautiful as it falls to the ground; It is beautiful as it crunches beneath your feet; It is beautiful when your ski's are paving their way through it on a cold, hillside. The cold, on the other hand, leaves you wanting to put more layers on when you already have three on. Anymore layers than that and you begin looking like a walking cotton ball!

One of my favorite times of enjoying the snow is when I can snuggle up on a couch, in perfect view of each flake slowly falling down upon the tree branches. In hand, I either have a cup of coffee or a cup of hot chocolate - occasionally it might be hot apple cider. If I have a choice, I will always add a fire place to the environment too!

Of course, down in Miami, I am not experiencing any of that, but hallelujah for a good memory - MANY memories to choose from. And I can think of the snow and relate it to how I am feeling today as I endure through Christ's exhortation to be merciful. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy." (Matthew 5:7)

Just as the snow can create a blanket effect, so can the mercy extended to a fellow neighbor. Mercy is like a blanket given to a cold-hearted/bitter neighbor, a neighbor either far into sin or simply slipping up at the moment, a neighbor who is hurting only because of life kicking them around - no matter what the situation, mercy is that blanket that soothes that need in the heart and mind and spirit. And it can be easy to give or it can be really hard. Today, I am having a hard time extending that mercy because it is to someone who has been cruel to me - a cruelness that never received a resolve on their part. I am still having to speak out forgiveness when I am tempted to hold a grudge. So, through tears at times, God is giving me grace to extend the mercy needed - the same mercy that I constantly am receiving from my LORD and Savior. How can I not do the same...