On some days when my morning walk doesn't happen, I find myself in bed, staring at the ceiling and ruminating. Often, some sort of epiphany occurs, convincing me, yet again, that exercise is somewhat superfluous.
Today, as I lay in bed, I wondered why people can hurt us so deeply and think that what they are doing is perfectly acceptable. They betray you, deceive you, crush you and yet each time they see you they act like nothing has happened. In fact, they expect to be shown grace without even the slightest acknowledgement of wrong doing on their part. All that matters is that they are supposedly happy in their own lives, even at the expense of the happiness of others.
And then it came to me. They act that way not because they are sociopaths or psychopaths with Machiavellian tendencies. They act that way because they know you have already forgiven them for all the past hurt, the present pain and the future grief. They behave the way they do because they glimpse the grace and mercy of God Himself in you, and while they can never acknowledge it for fear of incriminating themselves, they need it to keep going.
It's the very air they breathe but they don't see it, or perhaps they do and they can never say that they do. That would require an authenticity and honesty that they do not have in them. They cannot fully face their inner demons and so their lives are a continual facade of fakery. You see it and you wonder how they live that way, in the shallows, while you dive deep. But that is them.
What of us? How do we continue to relate to them in these circumstances? We must resist the urge to trample the other to the ground because they have trampled us beneath their feet. Instead, we continue to show grace, not because it is easy but because it is difficult, and also deeply transformative. We resist the voices that clamour against these acts of showing grace and mercy that claim we are "enabling" others to misbehave, or "cheapening" God's grace. There is no such thing.
We are simply shifting the balance back to the other and his relationship with God and his own personal accountability to His Maker. It is no longer about our pain. If others hurt us, the Beloved of God, they hurt the very heart of God. And always the gentle reminder to one's self... if we hurt others, the Beloved of God, we hurt the heart of God Himself. God's grace is made more precious this way, and his mercy is like a healing balm when we accept that all are the Beloved of God. Resist the foolish wisdom of this world that would deprive you of this beautiful opportunity to be that channel of grace and mercy no matter how others treat you. Embrace it, and be transformed by it.
We rise above the moment and take the higher road, remembering not to place ourselves on a pedestal and hasten our own fall, but to remain humble in the process. The pain is truly humbling, the hurt is our best instructor, and our grief is a reminder that God's grace abounds especially when we are broken, and if we allow His light to shine through.
So let others be whatever version of themselves they choose to be. Choose the higher road in all humility. Prefer to think that those who hurt us can see the grace of God at work in us and need that grace to keep going themselves. Let them go to relate to their God as they wish. Then it will be between you and your God, and in the end you will not be ashamed when you stand before Him.
Thus endeth the lesson for today. Need breakfast. Man shall definitely not live by early morning epiphanies alone. Toast is always welcome. Happy Wednesday, dear friends. Be blessed. Be grace filled, gracious and full of gracias!
Thanks for reading,
Pav
5 days ago
