Grateful for grace and mercy
I usually say “Better than I deserve” when asked how I’m doing. People I know just seem to expect me to do that.
I first heard that while driving back from the General Motors Truck Plant in Shreveport, LA. Dave Ramsey would say that every time a caller asked, “How are you?” and they asked that a lot. I wrote a devotion on it and delivered it to my Christian Motorcyclist Association chapter as the chaplain. That was back in 2003, over 20 years ago. Wow. I’ve been saying that ever since.
Lately I’ve been thinking I should update that.
About half the time I get the ‘oh, you deserve more’ or ‘you deserve all the good things.’ Sometimes I get funny responses like, ‘What have you been doing?’ but that’s not really what I’m going for, so I reply with, ‘I don’t want what I deserve; I like grace and mercy better.’
My goal was to combat the auto-response of ‘Fine, I’m fine,’ because that is probably not true, and as an introvert, I’m looking for a deeper conversation.
Sidebar: Introverts are not afraid of talking to people; we just don’t want to talk to people about the weather.
When I can engage another person in a way that interrupts the usual response, I’ve made headway. I’ve got their attention, and maybe their curiosity is awakened. That’s what I want. I want to engage in a conversation.
So, in the end, it’s about finding something that will engage, interrupt, and start a conversation. It’s up to us where that conversation goes. The best way is to ask questions, listen, and enjoy the time, be it measured in seconds, minutes, or hours. I’m not sure how I’ll change it but I’m going to try different ways to do a system interrupt. Will you join me?
Grateful for grace and mercy.
Jerry Robertson