As this year is now at the half way mark I find myself thinking back to how quickly the year has gone by. It seems like a few days ago that the New Year was coming in. I can recall on more than one occasion my parents saying that the older you get the faster time itself goes by. Being a child at that time, I of course thought to myself that this was yet another of those sayings that children hear from their parents that we shrug off and disregard.

Time and time again I must say that so many things that were spoken to me as a child are now coming to fruition. With the passage of time each of us can reflect back to those moments from our childhood that are now to a growing extend front and center in our lives.

The year as it moves toward its second half is one that I would imagine has seen many different things for each of us. There are those events that have happened in each of our lives which we would classify as routine. The act of going to work or perhaps our daily rituals become almost second nature to us. For many of us we can get to the point where we are going about our every day on auto pilot.

And yet each of us if we are honest can at times get to the point where we are so locked into the how and what we do, we can begin to fall into the trap of believing that we are entitled to what we have.

For all that we have been through during this year and those years that preceded it, it is not my chance or happenstance that we have reached this point on our road of life. The temptation is for some to think that we have made it this far because of who they are or what they have done.

I would suggest that the world that we are living in is one in which it is the rule and not the exception that people are of the mindset that it is all about them. That it is due to their efforts in and of themselves and others around them that has led them to the point in life where they feel empowered to say I’ve made it, and for some it even reaches the point of patting themselves on the back.

It is easy to think that yes we have made it, or that we are all that. A false thought that becomes embraced and a false thought that can lead to a flawed way of life.

None of us if we are honest with ourselves have anything that we can brag about. Nor is there anything in our lives that we can puff our chests out about and say look at me.

Truth be told, all of us are in spite of who we are or whatever point we may be in life,  have made it this far because of the goodness and mercy of God.

Goodness and Mercy. Where would any of us be without these two wonderful things?  From the very minute that we were born until the second that we will take our last breath, it is only because of the Goodness and Mercy of God.

If we were to take the time to look back over our lives, we would be a witness to the words from Psalms 23. Surely goodness and mercy has followed us every day of our lives. During the bad times in our lives, when truly the darkness overshadowed the sunshine, we may it through because of the goodness and mercy of God. For every high moment His goodness and mercy sustained us. And for every moment of tears sorrow and heartache, His goodness and mercy kept us afloat.

Those who came before us often spoke about how then made it over. Through it all our elders who would say, it was only because of the goodness and mercy of God. When the very ones that they may have thought they could count on left them hanging, God was always there for them. When there seemed to be no hope for tomorrow or even the prospect of making to the end of a day, they knew that they could depend on the goodness and mercy of God to keep pressing on.

Goodness and Mercy. How blessed are we to know that we are the recipients of both.  We are blessed to be able to say that we are covered by both during the good and bad times along our journey, and even when we mistakenly think we are all that, and perhaps turn our backs on God, still His goodness and mercy is there for us. May our prayers continue to invoke those words of reassurance from Psalms 23 that surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.

To God be the Glory

Alan T. Black