So there we were this dark, early morning watching a local news story about the big boss in the road department (or something. I can never recall those specific details) who'd been skimming money off the top, but paying it back (he said). All except for the latest $2,800 he 'borrowed.' 

Two FBI agents showed up at his house yesterday and after talking awhile, the guy got physical with them and at one point they were all wrestling together on the carpet of his living room.

Tom and I were, like, "What a dweeb. Didn't he know better than to wrestle with FBI guys? Sheesh." And we said even more stuff like that after a document was shown where the road department guy was quoted as saying, "I could have taken both of you."

"Yeah, right," Tom and I quipped. And I was thinking, "Man, this guy must really be scared because he's really guilty. Boy, is he in trouble."

Then at the very end of the story--the final sentence--the announcer said that he (road department guy) had recently lost his wife who'd passed away.

Oh.

Tom and I got really quiet. Then we both said things like, "Hmm. Wow. That throws something altogether different into the mix. I feel sorry for him. It's easier to understand why he pushed around the FBI guys like that."

Always, there are two sides to every story. 

I remind myself of that often. And the Holy Spirit reminds me, also--many times I start forming an opinion about somebody's actions and zap! This little ping goes off in my head and right away I've learned to say, "Nope! I have no opinion about that. I'm thinking nothin' about nobody."

And you know? I'm glad for those zaps because many is the time I've been plain ol' wrong and harsh in my opinions. Over again I've felt grateful I did not express my thoughts aloud because they ended up being incorrect and downright critical.

What I prefer are the times when I thought only good about someone. The instances I did not judge, but had true mercy, instead, because I recalled how I felt when I went through similar times, myself.

And may I more often look 'behind the scenes' of peoples' lives and extend more mercy after discovering what lies back there. 

I've found that to be a much more marvelous way to live.


*******

Mercy helps you understand why a person did something--and have compassion for him-- without approving of what he did.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Micah 7:18 "Who is a God like you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retains not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy."


******