Paul Dunion, EdD

We don’t talk much about mercy anymore.

See if you can find a place for mercy in your

life, maybe, initially as a small gesture to

someone, most obviously deserving. Mercy

is in need of a renewed welcome,  and a

reverence much deserved.

Mercy offers many gifts. It defies reducing

forgiveness to a cavalier consideration.

The anti-forgiveness attitudes become

more lucid. The righteous energizers

of revenge and punishment become more

transparent, shedding  their camouflage.

Mercy is the herald of forgiveness.

It calls us to be forgivers. Mercy brings

a generous amount of acceptance to our

lives. Benevolence replaces resentment,

forbearance takes the place of rancor,

serenity supersedes bitterness.

We become more honest about ourselves

as we remember, we also are worthy

recipients of mercy. Such a strange concept,

offering mercy to ourselves. Not in avoidance

of accountability, but rather in an eagerness

to get right with ourselves.

Now, shortcomings and defects of character

are no longer banished and denied. There is

a restoration of wholeness, larger than

what occurs to our inner landscape. In some

quiet, unassuming way, a healing ointment

is gently poured over the fractures of the world.

Find mercy for yourself and for others.

You are not required to perform some saintly

deed. Merely allow for a fragment of leniency

to enter your heart, and come to know this as

the grace of generosity. You are the generous

spirit, refusing to curse the other or yourself.