\u201cThe stockings were hung by the chimney with care,\u201d was part of my early childhood memories in our home where we had a fireplace. In the days leading up to Christmas morning, my parents would use the stockings as a reminder to me to be well-behaved. They would say, \u201cIf you do not act right, you will get coal in your stocking.\u201d This would be an incentive for me to calm down and to obey. It would not always stick, and the reminder would have to be given to me again\u2026.and again\u2026and again leading up to Christmas. Yet, in all the years of living at home, I never got coal in my stocking. I was always greeted on Christmas morning with trinkets, candy, and small toys in my stocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some might say mercy was shown to me. I surely did not deserve the gifts in the stocking and to be truthful, probably deserved the coal or nothing at all. Mercy is defined in the Merriam-Webster\u2019s Dictionary<\/em>, \u201ccompassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one\u2019s power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Luke 1:78, Zechariah states, \u201cBecause of God\u2019s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us.\u201d <\/em>The one who has been promised, Jesus, is the Light who is evidence of God\u2019s tender mercy upon His Creation. Earlier Zechariah had stated, \u201cHe has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant\u201d<\/em> (Luke 1:72). God\u2019s faithfulness is apparent in His fulfillment of His covenant promise made to Abraham and to His promises for a Messiah to be born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Advent, we are reminded of God\u2019s mercy shown to us in Emmanuel, God with us. Mercy is, as one author noted, \u201ccompassion in action.\u201d Mercy is where God is providing a way for us out of slavery to sin and death, to a new life of freedom through the Messiah, Jesus. Our actions are not always consistent with God\u2019s will for our lives, and we deserve the punishment and consequences for our disobedience and sin. Yet, out of God\u2019s great love for us and God\u2019s active compassion, He sent His son, born in a manger to bring life and light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we move closer to Christmas, let us be reminded of God\u2019s mercy coming to us in the baby born in the manger. Let us be mindful of God\u2019s love being poured out on us as we experience mercy and as we seek to be people of mercy to family, friends, coworkers, and people in our community. Let\u2019s not seek to be coal givers, but gift givers during this Christmas season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer: Lord, thank you for your mercy. Thank you that through your mercy and grace I do not get what I deserve. Thank you for your compassion in action. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe stockings were hung by the chimney with care,\u201d was part of my early childhood memories in our home where we had a fireplace. In the days leading up to Christmas morning, my parents would use the stockings as a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/livingtheadventure.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Blank1-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C4&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingtheadventure.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}