mercy

you know, i really wish i were not so cliche as to be in love with Mother Teresa.

But i can't help it! i am!

if i could pick one role model for my life, it would be her.

if i could pick one person from history to sit down and have dinner with, it would be her.

I recently saw a documentary on her life that literally changed the way i see mine. it has really caused me to take a look at the way i view Christ, people, and service

(and that's basically everything big in my life!)

you know, her birthday is only four days before mine (though her baptism day,which she considered her "true birthday" is only three), and her birthname means rosebud. She was raised Roman Catholic, and though she contributed to her community by

teaching at a convent, it was not enough for her - she was

deeply impacted by poverty.

A woman with open arms and a soul armed with compassion, she had trouble ignoring any form of suffering that she saw

in the streets of India.

Isaiah 1: 16-18
"wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds

out of my sight!

Stop doing wrong,

learn to do right!

Seek justice,

encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of the fatherless,

plead the case of the widow.

'Come now, let us reason together,'

says the LORD.

'Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.'"

This Catholic woman was certainly as Christian as they come. How i wish i could have even a tiny portion of her impact as i go to her native country seeking to promote justice and encourage the oppressed. You know, i think all she did was love the Lord; and love Him well.

James 2:13 -

"Mercy triumphs over Judgment!"

Mercy, mercy. I need longsuffering and mercy.

Father, give me mercy so that i do not judge; and give me the grace to hold only myself to the standards that i set, but also to share them with others as freely as You allow.