The dictionary describes "Mercy" as:
a : compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; also : lenient or compassionate treatment <begged for mercy>
b : imprisonment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder
2
a : a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion
b : a fortunate circumstance <it was a mercy they found her before she froze>
3
: compassionate treatment of those in distress <works ofmercy among the poor>
— mercy adjective
— at the mercy of
: wholly in the power of : with no way to protect oneself against
I got to thinking about mercy and my job as a social worker at an inner city charter school. My boss calls me the "ultimate nurturer". Past principle called me "my kids lawyer". The police officer calls me "their guardian angel". The kids call me, "their friend". Their parent's call me, "someone who goes out and actually does what they say they will do". I just call myself "a therapist". Then recently I started embracing my role as a "social worker". But really what do I do?
Bogged down at my last staffing, I remember myself saying, am I really even doing anything? At any given day I can walk into a classroom and the kid I spent the last 13 months working on one specific skill can look just as bad as the first day we started together... (or worse). I have kids throwing furniture, punching themselves, kicking themselves, hurting others, plotting to assault people, stealing, self-injuring, starving themselves, and wanting to die. They cuss each other out, tell the teacher's to shut up, ignore commands to see the principle, throw food, throw themselves on the floor, and genuinely bully others.
On any given day, I hear about murder, parents in jail, child abuse and molestation, hungry, poverty, and the list goes on. I call myself the "sponge" because I feel like I just suck up all of the horrible messes leaking from little faces and their families. I have thought of myself as "the hugging post" as I feel like I willingly (and often unwillingly give at least 100 hugs a day)... maybe twice that much depending on what class I walk in or which lunches I brave to walk through.
A lot of people say they don't know how I do this work. Most days, I don't really know either. I come home to a silent home, and I just recharge in it. But each day, God graces me with that word: Mercy. I don't know what else it could be that brings me back day after day. The reality is, I could have avoided this work. I could have stayed in a nice private practice setting. Hell, I could have ran a preschool like I had originally planned. I could have done any of a number of jobs. (Some days I crave working at Target stocking shelves and putting out samples of Archer Farms BBQ sauce). But I look back and some how I keep seeing a re-occurring gift of mercy that God gave me. From the time as a kid I helped the child with down syndrome in my class. The time I helped the old lady next to my grandma get her mail and have someone talk to for at least an hour each day I was over in the summer. From being the sorority Chaplain and new pledge educator always willing to listen, pray for, or go pick up the girl whose boyfriend broke up with her at 2am across campus. Some how, I just love to sit and talk about, listen to, and be with people who need someone to carry their burden for a minute. Sometimes, I just like to sit with people who no one wants to sit with. Sometimes, I just want to stop giving them suggestions, and answers, and "person-centered treatment plans". Some of my favorite moments are when me and my silly little kids are singing "the pretty girl rock" or playing a silent game of Sponge Bob Memory. My favorite memories with friends are mid night chat over Mad Mushroom Cheese sticks, times I led them to be prayed over after sharing their personal struggles with addiction or self-destruction. I guess it doesn't matter where or when, but God just wired me this way.
Each person is given a gift to serve the God of the Universe. Mercy, Encouragement, Hospitality, Knowledge, Wisdom, Administration, Creative Communication, Teaching, Shepparding, etc. etc. The more I serve, the more concrete my gift becomes apart of me. I may not be perfect, but in my weakness God shows up with his gifts to care for others. It is truly an honor to have, to share, to use, and to know how gifted He allows me to be.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12: 9-10
Sounds like a life of Mercy will not be any easy one. But I guess I realize that maybe my role is just to be merciful. To listen, to care, to show compassion in a world with there is little of it. And with God's gift, I know that's something I can do. What can you do today with the gifts you've been given....
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