ANOTHER REASON FOR SHOWING MERCY
I stopped at the stop sign and looked both ways before I pulled out in front of a police cruiser coming toward the intersection. I made it across the intersection and, truthfully, had plenty of time to spare. But I just knew that officer was going to stop me, so I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped, pulled out my driver’s license and rolled down my window. He asked to see proof of insurance, then wanted to know if I thought he should let me go with a verbal warning. I said, that would be nice. I explained I was just on my way to the Dollar Store down the street. He asked where I worked. I said, “I’m a homemaker, I live four houses back down this street.”
He informed me that if he’d T-boned me, the ticket would have been 250.00 dollars. I gasped. “Which would be worse, a ticket or being T-boned?” I answered, “being T-boned.” He asked me what I would do, if I were him. I said, “I guess I’d give me a ticket, but I sure do hope you show me mercy.”
He stood there looking at my license; I figured he was trying to decide if a 62-year-old lady could afford a ticket. He stood there at least another minute, then handed my license back and said, “Go on to the Dollar Store; and drive carefully.” I can’t begin to explain the depth of relief that filled my mind when that officer let me go with a verbal warning. I literally trembled at the thought of having to pay a 250.00-dollar ticket. Just last week my husband had been given a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign long enough. It was 149.00 dollars. I needed mercy.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7
In light of this verse, I can’t help but wonder why the officer showed me mercy. Maybe he wasn’t sure if I’d stopped at the stop-sign long enough; after all, he wasn’t sitting behind me. Maybe he was going faster than the 25 MPH speed limit on that street and had a reckoning of his own. I don’t know. But this verse seems to speak to our situation–whatever reason he had for showing me mercy. Perhaps, somewhere in the past few days I’ve shown someone some undeserved mercy. I don’t know if I have or not. But I do know that I experienced mercy today and feel a desire to show mercy to others as a result. I never really looked at this verse in quite the same way as I do now. I have to ask myself, how merciful am I to others? Could I be more merciful? Could I allow for another to make mistakes and not be upset with them? This verse gives ample reason to do so, don’t you think?
PRAYER: Lord, keep us ever mindful of the new mercies You show us each day. When we are wronged, help us show the mercy we are given through You.
© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2010
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