God's Will week Six

Some days are lemons... 

Psalm 103: 15-16
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

I had a meeting with an elderly woman the other day who had been seeking me. She is a member of a group of mystics.
mys•tic/ˈmistik/
Noun: A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect.

She and I had a long conversation and it was very much like seeing an old friend and talking about like subjects. She wanted to give me condolences for my brother’s death. If you follow this blog, I am still grieving the loss of my brother. It is a wonderful thing when God sends the right messenger to give you words that uplift you and let you know you are not alone. It renewed my faith that we are all connected by a common thread and knowing that God hears our prayers. All we did was talk and it renewed me.

In today’s verse it helped me remember that the things here on Earth are temporary. Nothing is going to last. With every living thing there is a cycle, birth, life, death. I feel neurotic at times, and I can be overly dramatic about the events or things that happen in my life, but that is my personality. I exaggerate, mostly for fun.

Last week, a woman backed into the front of my car. When telling me she hit my car, she kept saying, “I hit the back of it.” I looked at the back of my car and said, “there was no damage.” She didn’t bother to take my hand and direct me to the front of my car, she meant she hit the back of her’s. I thought she was a little intellectually challenged, and I didn’t think any damaged was done, so I thanked her for telling me and got in my car and drove away. Looking back, she must have thought I was intellectually challenged too. Later in the day I approached my car from the front and saw the damage that was done. The grill had a big hole in it and there was a dent. Between me and my friends I was livid, I told the tale and felt a bit dumb for not getting it when she said, “I hit the back of it.”

I am wondering if the woman had 100 bad things going on in her life and she didn’t pay attention because of the stress she was under. I’m sure it took a lot of courage for her to tell me half of the truth, and for that half she got forgiveness. In all honesty, aside from the drama of telling the story, I wasn’t that bothered. I pulled the damaged part of the grill back out to fill back in the hole and the dent I will live with. The car is still drivable and the damage is small. I’m not usually someone with a quick temper, I absorb things then I react later. About the car incident I didn’t seek revenge or go back to see if there were witnesses, it really didn’t matter.

There are times in life when you have to go above your situation to not let it get to you, or cause you to do damage to someone else, or worse damage to yourself.

I know if the woman had taken my hand to the front of my car, I might have reacted the same way, just pulled the part of the grill out and told her no real damage was done. Sometimes people deserve mercy instead of anger. I’ve been trying to practice mercy and really mean it when I say, no real harm was done.
I would like to think God gives us the same mercy when we mess up. I want to know that God is slow to anger, and that he doesn’t sweat the small stuff. I hope that people will be able to see God in my actions. I am thankful that He is at work in my life teaching me to live in His will.

I don’t want to forget to tell God each day, thank you for letting me live this life and loving the people I share it with.

Grace and mercy to you, from God our Father.