This morning, I read the following in a prayer written by one of my favorite Christian authors, Stormie Omartian:

“Help me to better understand Your mercy toward me so that I will be able to extend it to others.”

This idea always stops me in my tracks.  Reviewing my own inadequacies and character limitations is humbling, to say the least.  The mercy that God has given me when I have acted out in anger, frustration, judgment, etc. is a perfect way to open my heart to forgiving others for the things they have done to me – and accepting each person I encounter as being exactly where they are meant to be for today.

It isn’t easy to cease from yelling at the driver who cuts me off in traffic, or to stop myself from judging the morbidly obese person in front of me in line at the grocery store with nothing but junk food in his cart.  But, when I am able to remember to pause before yelling and before judging, I am reminded of God’s beautiful mercy in my own life.  How often have been completely unaware of the people driving around me as I was rushing to a meeting because I was late?  And, before my recovery from my addiction to food, did I ever ignore all that I knew about healthy living in order to carry out a binge to satiate my disease of compulsive overeating?

Not every person on this earth is at the same point of awareness in life.  I am certain that there are things I do today that annoy the crap out of others; and yet, I am still unaware of them.  That is why I choose to go to God each day and ask for His guidance to continue growing.  For it is true that once I become aware of the imperfections within myself, I am much more accepting and merciful towards the imperfections in others.