And God Enlarges Our Hearts Instead

 

And the king said to Shimei,

"You shall not die."

              2 Samuel 19. 23

(No matter how we are treated,

may God grant to us

the measure, margin,

   mindset and courage

to respond with acts

     and attitudes of grace.

Grace does not ignore the hurt,

but covers it with healing,

infiltrates it with forgiveness,

and enlarges our hearts instead.

How can we navigate

    our volatile relationships?

    (We all have them.)

Jesus always shows

     another way through it

with eternal reverberations.)

O LORD,

Help us to love and extend grace

    to the difficult people.

        Of which we are too,

   and You loved us anyway.

Pour Your grace and healing

     over these hard situations

     and strained relationships

that we may think and act

     with Your radical

     and unexpected love

          and the mind of Christ.

Do something extraordinary with it.

People are always watching us

   to see if You have really changed us.

May we see these circumstances

   as a way to practice grace.