Mercy is not an easy game to play.

Grace. Mercy. Undeserved favor. Kindness given when one deserves wrath. It's value is beyond the world's precious stones, but how come people don't value it as much?

This question echoes in my head this week: Why can't people see, understand, appreciate the value or worth of God's grace? I mean seriously, if someone came up to me and said, look all those nasty thoughts, my evil devices, my tendency to think ill of someone, the words that come out of my mouth, or you fill in the blank................... and then this person says I'm going to erase all those marks next to your name, yeah I guess my first tendency would be "well now, what do I have to do for you?"

But for me, I would sincerely ask, "why?" In our world it doesn't make sense, because we think we have to work for it to receive it. The answer to why: because God loves us. Seriously, there has to be more to it. Nope. And yes it seems like I'm having a conversation with my own words. I'm trying to wrap my mind around it. So because He loves me, He gives me an opportunity for a clean slate, a righteousness, sins not counted against me. I MEAN CMON! I can't get off that easy! Grace, an undeserved justice for my sin. Interesting. Beyond interesting, mind boggling, begs the question, what's my response? Cheesy I know, but crying comes to heart.

A lady calls (who knows we have $25 gift cards to grocery stores for the needy) asking for another one. She comes by and I hand her the card. It's probably the 3rd or 4th card I've given her, since she's learned that I have them. Today I decided to say "bring a receipt back to show me what you bought." I didn't know what I was thinking, my cynical side kicked in. Wouldn't grace suggest to give without conditions? Without comments? Without reservations of what she will do with the card?

It seems like I just answered the boundaries of grace. Yeah, that's it, it doesn't have any. Love encompasses all of it. (More cheese) It makes me want to run the streets, yelling like a madman of this amazing thing I know. Maybe I should stand on a busy street, holding the sign up, not the world's going to end, but that God loves you, you, you, you, you, you, and you, and you. I don't know what I'm doing staying inside this office. Seriously, why can't people understand this grace?