My sisters and I are in complete agreement that when God was handing out the Gift of Mercy, he missed our family completely, at least our generation. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the Gift of Mercy, don’t stress over it. We’re preachers kids and learned all that bible stuff before we were tweens. We can quote The Gifts, The Fruits and break into song when reciting the Books of the Bible. None of which qualified as a talent in a beauty contest.
We grew up in church – literally. In fact, if you can get to heaven with church attendance frequent flier miles, the three of us could fill multiple 747’s with friends and family – one way tickets only.
My eldest sister always felt led to start a Slap Ministry. We all thought it was a good idea. Someone does something stupid and who do you call? The SLAP MINISTRY of course. Mercy – it’s just not part of our DNA.
But what about GRACE? Where does grace fit into life? Grace is when your actions deserve a punishment, but grace comes in and offers forgiveness and lets you walk away. I love the idea of Grace. To be honest, as a person who doesn’t have an ounce of mercy, showing grace doesn’t always come easy.
Today, as I looked down into the biggest green eyes I’ve ever seen, these words past over my lips and into the bruised heart of a sixteen year old. “There is no reason why I should allow you to do this, but…” and she finished the sentence, “you’re going to let me?”
“Yep,” I said. “It’s called grace and you need to learn about it.” We got into the car and it took all my self-control to hold back the tears. Grace received is amazing. Grace offered is an indescribable experience. I’m all about accountability. I believe for every action there is a consequence. But there are times that Grace supersedes them all.
Where does this thing called Grace come from? It’s not on the list of a fruit or a gift. It just is. Maybe it’s like forgiveness, always available. Maybe it’s like spiritual air that is all around us, a never ending supply and we just have to breath it in.
How do we learn about grace? Only by experiencing it. How do we experience it? Because someone who had every right to punish us says, “You’re forgiven.”