You pardon sin.

Forgive transgression.

———-

You provide an inheritance.

Save a remnant.

Keep your promises.

Are true.

___________

You are not angry forever.

Able to delight in showing mercy.

God.

___________

You will have compassion again.

Stomp out our sins with Your feet.

Hurl our iniquities into the sea.

———-

You pledged an oath long ago.

Remember Jacob and Abraham.

Are the only God.

*Micah 7:18-20

I walked into the gym one night this week and was greeted by the voice of a former student, “Hi Andrea.”  It took me about 5 minutes to recover and respond appropriately.  She then proceeded to comfortably call me by my first name about 3 times.  There are a few reasons why this bothers me.

1.  I didn’t give her permission to call me Andrea even though I know there’s no logical reason why an adult should call another adult “Mrs. Last Name.”

2.  I just don’t like going to the gym and seeing former students (or closest friends!).  I like to maintain a certain level of anonymity at the gym.  I want to walk in and be ignored (and pretend like I’m just as fit as anyone else in there!).

3.  As a teacher, I tried to maintain a distance between my person and professional life. This forces those two worlds to collide and I don’t know how to deal with it. (And I shouldn’t have to think that hard when I go to the gym!)

4.  It reminds me that a former student works at the gym where I’m a member, which means that she has access to my personal information and has some kind of authority over me (which is just weird!).

5.  It reminds me that she–somewhat effortlessly–has the body I–somehwat effortlessly–had when I was her age.  (And that is just not an encouraging thought when you’re trying to get in shape!)

“He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Micah 6:8

I love making lists.  I mean, really love it.  Just ask Harry.  We’ll be vegging out on a Sunday night trying to make the most of every remaining relaxing moment before the work week begins and I’ll start to freak out about everything that needs to happen that week or everything I didn’t get done over the weekend.  And he’ll say, would it help you to make a list?  So, I make a list and my shoulders relax and I put it out of my head and return to my relaxing evening.  Lists can be a good thing for people like me.

They make me feel like I have some control over my day, my house, my work, my family, holidays…just about anything.  If I can make a list, I can take a deep breath and know that it’s going to get done.

Sometimes, though, the whole list doesn’t get finished.

I know, it’s shocking, but I can’t really have control over every aspect of my life with a list–not matter how hard I try!  And when that happens, I have to choose whether to be angry because my idol of perfectionism has failed me, or to be at peace with what did get done and rest in my identity in Christ.

My spiritual life is not immune to this activity either.  I look at the verse above and see a list.  Finally, something for me to check off in the Christian life!   Number 1:  Act justly….ok, I think I’ve got that one.  I definitely try to be fair.  Number 2:  Love mercy….Who doesn’t love mercy?  Then, Number 3:  Walk humbly.  hmmm.  Then, it starts to get a little more complicated.

I definitely want justice and fairness for the things I think are wrong in the world, but what does “acting justly” really mean in my little world?  What does it mean when I have a conflict with a coworker?

And I love mercy for myself, but I don’t always want it for someone that I feel has wronged me or a loved one.  And is it just me, or is there a tension between acting justly and loving mercy?

And then, walking humbly with the Lord.  Wow.  So, even when I get a list, it’s still about my heart.  Even when it’s boiled down into a list of three bullets, it’s still impossible to be obedient to the Lord and His commands without submitting my heart to Him in humility.  And no matter how much I want to make one, there’s no list for that.