Saturday, January 29, 2011

Grace & Mercy

"Return to God with all your heart, the source of grace and mercy;
Come seek the tender faithfulness of God" ~ Marty Haugen

grace: Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and eternal life. ~ CCC 1996

mercy: Mercy is a virtue influencing one's will to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another's misfortune. ~ www.newadvent.com

My husband is the one who technically named Mercy. One day at church we were singing the above mentioned hymn and he leaned over and whispered that if we ever have another girl we should name her "Mercy". I laughed it off and basically said no. I had heard the name "Mercy" on a TV show a while back and didn't really care for it.

Then we got pregnant again.

And it was a girl.

I was set on the name Nora. Not sure why. The name Mercy came up again and something just hit me. That was our baby's name. And now as I look at her laying peacefully on the floor, sucking her binkie with her hand casually covering her eyes, it fits her so well.

They say your child's name will affect their personalities later on in life. If this is true, Mercy is going to be the giver. She'll be compassionate, thoughtful, kind-hearted and always will to help someone in need. I know it's a little too soon to tell, but how much of that is shaped by our teaching? How much is shaped by the way we raise our children?

Grace was going to be named Heidi after Mike's paternal grandma. Not sure how far along I was in the pregnancy when the name Grace came into play. Mike instantly said he loved it, and we changed our minds. I don't think we could have picked a more perfect name for our first born.

Grace is a helper. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, Grace is there and willing to help. She's always been that way. When we're in the car and Mercy starts crying, Grace reaches over and holds her hand. She says in a sing-song voice "Your big sister's here!" which always puts a smile on Mercy's face. I know that Grace is going to be there to help Mercy with whatever she needs throughout life and Mercy will be willing to do anything to help Grace as well.

My children have changed my outlook on life. They give me reason to wake up in the morning, and to make myself be a better person. A lot of things have changed in the last week, and as many of my friends have told me, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. I finally get to be home with my kids and watch them grow. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

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