His Mercy

Having five boys, I often am asked “Who is your favorite?”
I usually answer that in a roundabout way. Because, as a parent, you do have favorites. But not in the way many people think. I don’t have a favorite above any of the others. There are definitely days that I may favor one, but that’s a different thing from what is being asked. I have Favorite things about each of my boys. Having five boys with very different personalities and traits has genuinely given me a better understanding of myself. What a gift from God. It has shown me how He can love each of us separately and uniquely. How we each are created specifically for a purpose. That my circumstances did not create me, God did that. Seeing how incredibly unique they each are even with the same passed down genes, and same parents, and same life circumstances opened my eyes to see the purpose in how unique we all are. It has revealed to me all those things I thought were broken in me by difficult circumstances growing up aren’t broken things at all. That my personality is mine because God gave it to me.
Back to how I answer this question though. Most of the time I’ll say” I don’t have a favorite, but there is one who is usually the easiest.” He has been the easiest mainly because of his ability to live out Proverbs 28:13. It wasn’t anything that I taught him either. It is a gift that God gave to him. I have often relayed to others how when Ewan was small, even around the age of 3-4 I can remember him coming to the top of the stairs and asking “ mom, can I come out of time-out now?”
In and of itself that’s not so strange or unique for a child to ask. It is however, when I had not put him in time-out.
That’s right. I had a child who would discipline himself.
Not once did I ever tell him that he could not come out of time-out when he asked me. How could I? The only choice my heart had was Mercy. Every single time my heart was softened to him.

That is how God reacts to us when we confess to Him. His heart is softened to us and He shows us His Mercy. Such a beautiful and underserved gift is His Mercy. If we all could learn this lesson of quick repentance. I’m not sure why this is such a hard lesson for some of us. It is good to remember though how quick He is to forgive.

as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

If we could just hide these words in our hearts perhaps we would be quicker to confess and repent. When we view that Mercy in its entirety. In its enormity. In its beauty. His Faithfulness to His word is so great that we should be prompted to turn immediately to Him for forgiveness. There is no need for us try “hide” from Him. His heart is softened toward us. 
We need only to confess, repent and run to the stairs, look up and ask if we can come out of time-out. Our self imposed time-out. 

May my heart be like that of my sweet Ewan, May yours as well. To be honest over any transgression and willing to make it right.