Mercy Bertha

     After blogging last night about grace, it has been on my mind a lot today.  We have a sign in our kitchen that reads "Grace is when God gives us what we don't deserve.  Mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve."
     While I was running this evening I thought of that sign.  I thought about God's grace.  Then my thoughts naturally progressed to Mercy.  
      Mercy. Quite a few years ago Veggie Tales released a movie about Jonah.  Some of our kids were still young enough to want to go see it.  (Now I'm almost to the point of hiring kids to go to movies like that with me!  While our kids' tastes in movies have changed, they tease me by saying I only go to movies that are animated or have talking animals!)  During the Jonah movie, one of the characters stated "God is a God of second chances and that's mercy!"  That started me thinking.....
     Prior to going to the movie, our family had been discussing getting a new dog.  We knew it had to be a small dog, one we could keep in the house and one we would love.  The kids were so ready for a dog. It had been a couple of years since our last dog but we had a gold fish named Snoopy!  As we watched the Jonah movie and I thought about God being a God of second chances, mercy, I leaned over to the kids and told them that would be a good name for our next dog, Mercy.  So we prayed about that dog and waited for an answer.
     One day a co-worker told me about a shih tzu named Bertha who needed a home.  I met Bertha.  We had a family meeting and voted Survivor Tribal Council style.  Yes!  We had a new dog!  And we changed her name...to Mercy!
     Mercy stole our hearts.  What we didn't know was that she was already 7 years old when we got her.  But that didn't really matter.  She was our little sweetheart.  No one could turn her away when she begged at the dinner table.  She was included in family pictures and Christmas news letters.  The boys called her their second sister!  And she loved us no matter what.
     While we didn't leave her very often, there were a few times over the 10 years and 3 months she was with us that we had to have others stay with her or we had to board her for a few days.  Every time we returned home, she just loved us like crazy and was so happy to see us.  She never held a grudge.  She was never upset with us.  She just loved us.  But unfortunately at about the age of 15 doggie dementia began to set in.  She began to lose her hearing and vision. She was still our dog.  No matter what, we loved her.
     God taught us so much thru our little Mercy. She lived to be 17 years and 4 months old.  It's been 6 months since we lost her and we still miss her so much.  One of the boys said he never wants another dog.  He asked why he would ever want another when he had already had the best.  I have sweet kids.  :)  And I think they will all want another dog eventually. 
     Luke 6:36 instructs us to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful.  Our God is not only a god of second chances, He's THE GOD of second chances.  He forgives us when we don't deserve it.  All we have to do is come to Him and ask.  Can we forgive that way?  When God forgives, it's just like what we did never happened at all.  His forgiveness includes His forgetting our sins.  Wow........Mercy.